194 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



Genus ECHIDNA Forster 



Echidna Forster, Icones Ineditae; Bibliotheca Banksiae (1777) 181. 



Elongate compressed mursenids, with the dorsal profile 



strongly arched, and with blunt, conical, granular or molarlike 



teeth, their form, number, and arrangement often changed with 



age; eyes small, covered by skin 



dorsal confluent with anal, 



both covered by thick skin; gill openings small, in the middle 

 of the height of body. 



These morays are found about the shores and reefs of tropical 

 seas, and represent the highest degree of specialization of the 

 group. The genus is well distinguished by its blunt teeth, which 

 indicate that crustaceans and mollusks are the chief food. 



Key to the Philippine species of Echidna. 

 a\ Tail twice or more than twice in head and trunk; dark brown, with 



thirty to over one hundred narrow white rings E. zebra. 



a\ Tail equal to, one-third longer, or a little shorter than head and trunk. 

 b\ Body conspicuously banded or spotted. 

 c\ Twenty-three to twenty-nine broad dark brown bands on body. 



E. polyzona. 

 c 2 . Two rows of large stellate spots on each side; interspaces paler 



with many fine lines and spots E. nebulosa. 



b 2 . Color uniform dark brown or brown marbled with darker; no con- 

 spicuous bands or rows of spots. 

 d 1 . Color uniform with a white spot on upper lip and a longer one on 



lower lip near angle of mouth E. rhodoehilus. 



d 2 . Body marbled; no white blotch at angle of mouth. 



e 1 . Teeth on intermaxillary in a semicircle with two stouter teeth 



e\ Teeth on intermaxillary in five rows, the inner ones largest. 



E. amblyodon. 

 Echidna zebra (Shaw). 



Gymnothorax zebra Shaw, Nat. Misc. 9 (1797) pi. 322. 

 Echidna zebra Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Muraen. 4 (1864) 81, pi. 27, 

 fig. 1; Jordan and Evermann, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. 23 (1903) 

 (1905) 106, pi. 20; Weber and Beaufort, Fishes Indo-Austr. Arch. 

 3 (1916) 345, fig. 168; Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 64 

 (1912) 27. 

 The depth is contained 20|- in length; the thick, heavy, short 

 head is contained 10| in total length, 6| in trunk, and 3 in tail; 

 the last named is short and strongly compressed posteriorly; 

 its length is not quite ,28 per cent of the total length and is con- 

 tained 2f in head and trunk; eyes rather large and slightly 

 elliptical, their longest diameter contained 8 in head and fifteen- 

 nineteenths of the short blunt snout, which projects well beyond 

 tip of mandible; lower jaw curved so that the mouth cannot be 



