23,2 H err e: Philippine Eels 125 



developed but lying behind and parallel with them; lips thick; 

 palatine teeth small, in a narrow band; gill membranes nearly 

 entirely united to isthmus by a median septum which divides 

 gill opening ; gill arches three, with rudimentary gill fringes, and 

 moderately wide slits between them ; dorsal and anal fins reduced 

 to mere folds; vertebras 100 + 88 = 188. 



Eel like fishes of the rice ditches, rivers, and brackish water, 

 from Burma and the East Indies to North China, Korea, For- 

 mosa, and the Riu Kiu Islands. 



Genus FLUTA Bloch and Schneider 

 Fluta Bloch and Schneider, Syst. Ichth. (1801) 565. 

 Monopterus Lacepede is preoccupied by Monopteros Volta, Ichth. Vero- 

 nese (1796), a genus of fossil fishes. 



Characters of the genus included above. 

 Fluta alba (Zuieuw) . 



Mursena alba Zuieuw, Nov. Act. Acad. Sci. Petropol. 7 (1789) 299, 



pi. 7, fig. 2. 

 Monopterus javanois Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss. 2 (1798) 139. 

 Monopterus javanensis Schneider, Syst. Ichth. (1801) 565, after 

 Lacepede; Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Mursen. 4 (1864) 118, pi. 47, fig. 

 1; Gunther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 8 (1870) 14. 

 Monopterus albus Jordan and Snyder, Proc. U. S. Nat Mus. 23 

 (1901) 838, Riu Kiu Islands; Weber and Beaufort, Fishes Indo- 

 Austr. Arch. 3 (1916) 413, figs. 210 and 211. 

 Head 13 in length, its depth greater than that of body, 1% in its length; 

 depth 22 (17 to 26) in length. Jaws heavy, the lower shorter; maxillary 2 

 in head; teeth small, mostly uniserial. Eye very small, over middle of 

 maxillary. Gill openings inferior, confluent in a semicircular slit. Tail 

 very short, pointed, 2% in rest of body. 



Dorsal fin very low, rayless, beginning close behind vent. Anal similar, 

 very indistinct, about half length of dorsal; no pectorals or ventrals. Color 

 in spirits blackish olive, with traces of darker and paler streaks and mot- 

 tlings, a dark cross band behind head; in life with yellowish streaks and 

 dark dots above. 

 Length i to 2 feet. 



The above description is copied from Jordan and Snyder's 

 Apodal Fishes of Japan. No specimens have been seen by me 

 from the Philippines, but the species is recorded by Fowler. 1 

 His specimen is in the Philadelphia Commercial Museum and is 

 merely labeled "Philippine Islands." 



According to Weber and Beaufort "this fish is capable of living 

 a considerable time out of water and of burying itself in the 

 mud when the water is drying up." 



l Copeia No. 58 (June 18, 1918) 62. 



