140 The Philippine Journal of Science 192s 



triangular, rather sharp snout, and 2£ in the interorbital space ; 

 mouth of medium size, its gape 3.6 in head; as is often the 

 case in eels the mouth is asymmetrical, on one side not extending 

 beyond the pupil, on the other not reaching the rear margin of 

 the eye; pectorals two-thirds as broad as their length, which 

 is 2.75 in head; origin of dorsal behind anus and farther back 

 than origin of anal ; teeth of nearly uniform size, those of upper 

 jaw forming a broad continuous band which tapers but little 

 posteriorly; it is continuous around anterior outer portion of 

 intermaxillary plate and partially separated by two distinct 

 lateral grooves on inner anterior side from the broad vomerine 

 band, which tapers but little posteriorly and does not extend 

 backward as far as do the maxillary teeth ; bands in lower jaw 

 partially separated by a groove which does not reach to anterior 

 margin so that they are continuous there; posteriorly they taper 

 gradually to about half their greatest anterior breadth. 



Color in life uniform very dark olive brown, slightly paler to 

 yellowish on belly; pectorals, dorsal, and caudal blackish; color 

 in alcohol similar but paler, becoming brown laterally to yel- 

 lowish under head and belly; anal with a pale margin except 

 near caudal. 



Here described from a specimen obtained by me in Cotabato 

 River, Mindanao, not far from its mouth. In the position of 

 the dorsal it resembles Anguilla dussumieri Kaup, but does not 

 agree with it otherwise as far as can be judged from Kaup's 

 figure and unsatisfactory description. This specimen differs 

 also from any other I have examined in the greater develop- 

 ment of its caudal fin and the contiguous confluent portions of 

 the dorsal and anal. Length, 615 millimeters ; head, 88 ; trunk, 

 177 ; tail, 350 ; depth, 40 ; eye, 9 ; snout, 18 ; gape, 24 ; origin of 

 dorsal, behind anus, 15. 



A rare East Indian species, also recorded by Kner from Aus- 

 tralia. According to Bleeker the eye is contained from 6 to 6.5 

 times in the head ; the difference in my specimens may be due 

 to their much larger size since as a rule the eyes are proportion- 

 ately larger in young specimens. 



LEPTOCEPHALIDJE 



This family includes scaleless eels having the tongue largely 

 free in front, the body elongate, with lateral line and well-devel- 

 oped pectoral and vertical fins, the latter confluent around the 

 tail; the posterior nostrils distant from the upper lip and near 

 the front of the eye ; the lower jaw more or less included. 



