178 The Philippine Journal of Science mz 



Tail deeper than body; origin of dorsal fin behind pectoral; 

 posterior nostrils before eyes; lateral line prominent, the pores 

 continuous from nape. 



Color uniform blackish brown above, paler on sides, becom- 

 ing slaty brown on belly and throat; fins slightly paler but 

 uniform in color with body. 



This specimen has the following dimensions: Length, 440 

 millimeters; depth, 8; head, 28; trunk, 137; tail, 275; eye, 2; 

 snout, 5; gape, 10; pectoral, 7. 



A specimen from Mindoro, in the museum of the University of 

 Santo Tomas, apparently belongs here also. The skin of the 

 whole body, excepting only the head, is roughened by an encysted 

 parasite. The vomerine teeth are in three rows anteriorly ; the 

 origin of the dorsal is behind the pectorals. 



This species" is separated from other East Indian members of 

 the genus by marked differences in the relative length and depth 

 and in the dentition. 



Optachthus rutidodermatoides (Bleeker). 



Ophisurus rutidodermatoides Bleeker, Verh. Bat. Gen. 25 (1852) 

 Muraena 31. 



Ophichthys rutidodermatoides Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Muraen. 4 (1864) 

 pi. 16, fig. 1. 



Ophichthys rhytidodermatoides Gunther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 8 

 (1870) 62; Weber and Beaufort, Fishes Indo-Austr. Arch 3 

 (1916) 309, fig. 147. 

 Depth 46 to more than 50 in total length; head 15 to 16.5 and 

 4 to nearly 5 in trunk; head and trunk together about one-half 

 of tail (five-ninths in my specimen) ; eyes very small, elongate, 

 2£ in snout and 11£ in head; head small, with weak jaws, the 

 lower one particularly so, the long and sharply pointed snout 

 projecting more than half its length beyond mandible; cleft of 

 mouth extending well behind eyes, and contained from less than 

 3 to 3.5 in head ; anterior nostrils in short tubes pointing down- 

 ward, and behind tip of snout ; posterior nostrils below anterior 

 margin of eyes; pectorals from 3 to 3.4 in head; intermaxillary 

 plate with four comparatively large, irregularly placed teeth, 

 the lower jaw not extending to them; all teeth fixed, pointed, 

 those in jaws in two rows except the first few in the maxillaries, 

 which are in one row; teeth on forward part of vomer in two 

 rows, changing to one row posteriorly; general arrangement of 

 teeth as in Weber and Beaufort's figure, but differing somewhat 

 in detail ; dorsal and anal low, the latter apparently the higher in 

 my specimen but both so closely appressed as to make their 



