214 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



between, especially on underside of tail; upper jaws and cranium 

 almost uniform purplish brown; belly and throat pale, densely 

 speckled with small dark flecks. 



Here described from a mutilated female about to spawn, col- 

 lected at Cabalian, Leyte, May 19, 1921. The tail has been bitten 

 off and healed, and a flap of skin with the characteristic white 

 tip of the caudal has grown out to form a pseudo fin. While 

 the specimen does not agree with any of the published figures, 

 its proportions and dentition place it here and it is undoubtedly 

 a variety of Gymnothorax meleagris, probably closest to Gun- 

 ther's variety "f." 10 Its dimensions are: Head, 39 millimeters; 

 trunk, 80; tail, 112; gape, 18; eye, 5; snout, 7.5. 



This species reaches a meter in length and ranges from the 

 east coast of Africa to the East Indies, Hawaii, Australia, and 

 the South Sea Islands. Gunther and Weber and Beaufort have 

 united many species under this name; most of them unques- 

 tionably belong here. 

 Gymnothorax polyuranodon Bleeker. 



Mursena polyuranodon Bleeker, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. 5 (1853) 



248. 

 Gymnothorax polyuranodon Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Mursen. 4 (18G4) 



89, pi. 30, fig. 2. 



Murwna polyuranodon Gunther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 8 (1870) 114; 



Fische d. Sudsee 3 (1910) 421; Boulenger, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 



VI 15 (1895) 187; Weber and Beaufort, Fishes Indo-Austr. Arch. 



3 (1916) 369, fig. 185. 



Height 19 to 28; head 9 to more than 11, 4 to 5 times in trunk. Tail 



somewhat shorter than head and trunk. Eye 10-12, more than 1.5 in snout, 



situated above middle of cleft of mouth, which goes more or less than 3 h 



times in length of head, is horizontal and closes completely. Origin of 



dorsal slightly before gill openings, which are a little wider than the eye. 



Teeth conical, with the sharp point directed backwards, in the maxillaries 



in 2 or 3 series, on the intermaxillary plate in 2 peripheral series, the teeth 



of the inner series stouter, in the centre 1 or 2 compressed, recurved, 



moveable teeth; on vomer a single series of 5 to 10 teeth. Mandibulary 



teeth posteriorly uni- to triserial, anteriorly stouter and bi- to quadriserial. 



Yellowish brown, with irregular rounded, more or less confluent black spots. 



On the head the spots coalesce into more or less complete longitudinal bands, 



separated by light longitudinal streaks. Length 700 mm. — Weber and 



Beaufort. 



A specimen only 275 millimeters long was collected by E. H. 

 Taylor in Saub River, Cotabato, Mindanao, April 29, 1923. 

 Boulenger records the species from Palawan. 



"Fische d. Sudsee 3 (1910) 411. 



