154 The Philippine Journal of Science 



openings, which are very small, lateral, and widely separated; 



teeth small on vomer and jaws; a lateral line present. 



SmaU marine eels occurring from the Red Sea to Japan, Aus- 

 tralia, and the islands of the South Pacific. 



Key to the Philippine species of Murxnichthys. 



a* Origin of dorsal nearer gill openings than vent M. macropterus. 



a* Origin of dorsal not nearer gill openings than vent 



6* Vomerine teeth large, blunt, rounded; origin of dorsal nearer vent 

 • than gill openings; Jaw teeth in two, three, or ^r^^^^ 

 6'. Vomerine teeth small, sharp pointed; origin of dorsal midway 



between vent and gill opening. 



r teeth uniserial. 



„-. Vomer with two row, ol teeth; eye 18 in head M. thompsoni. 



0-. Vomer with teeth in one row, imperfectly two rowed or or = 



Y; eye 11 to 14 in head. 

 Mursenichthys macropterus Bleeker. 



Murxnichthys macropterus Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sci. ] nd °- N ^^ * 

 (1857) 91; Atlas Ichth. Muram. 4 (1864) 31, pi. 7 fig. 3; Jordan 

 and Seale, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 28 (1905) 772; Casto de Elera, 

 Cat. Sist. Fauna Filip. 1 (1895) 588; Weber and Beaufort, Fishes 

 Indo-Austral. Arch. 3 (1916) 275. 

 The following description is copied from Weber and Beaufort: 



Height 27.5-40; head about 7.5, 2 to 2.2 in trunk. Head and trunk 

 about 13 to 15 in tail. Eye 8-12, twice in snout. Cleft of mouth reaching 

 behind eye. Origin of dorsal nearer to the gill openings than to anus; 

 its distance from vertical through anus nearly 1.2-1.5 longer than W. 

 Mandibular and maxillary teeth small, subcorneal, in 2 series, inose 

 on the vomer larger and more granular, in two close set series, on the in- 

 termaxillary plate is a semicircular row of similar teeth. Color of alcohol 

 Bpecimens brownish. Length 247 mm. 



The only specimen I have seen is one that I determined in the 

 museum of the University of Santo Tomas. It differs markedly 

 from the description by Bleeker and from the one cited above m 

 its stouter form, the depth being contained but 18.8 times in 

 the length; the head is contained 8 times in the length and 2.75 



in the trunk; the gape is contained 2.5 times in the head. 



Length, 160 millimeters; depth, 8.5; head, 20; tail, 85; gape, 



8. In other respects, however, it is typical. 



This specimen came from Mindoro Island; the species has also 



been recorded from southern Negros by Jordan and Seale. 

 Since writing the above I have received a specimen from 



Lingayen, Pangasinan Province, collected January 5, 1923. Its 



dimensions are as follows: Length, 185 millimeters; depth, 8; 



head, 28; tail, 110. 



