23_8 The Philippine Journal of Science tf» 



follows: Length, 1,225 millimeters; depth, 120; head, 175; trunk, 

 420 ; tail, 630 ; gape, 85. 



A huge specimen captured December 21, 1922, on Subungum 

 Reef, near the town of Bondoc, Tayabas, had the following di- 

 mensions; Length, 1,510 millimeters; depth, 155; head, 217; tail, 

 692; mouth, 105; snout, 33; eye, 12.5. The tail is shorter than 

 the head and trunk by over 18 per cent of its own length, but 

 it has probably had the tip bitten off, as it is wide and notched 

 at the end instead of tapering to a point. The projecting lower 

 jaw is very much curved so that the cavernous mouth cannot be 

 closed. Such individuals as this, with their enormous head and 

 jaws and thick, bulky body, enable one to realize their strength 

 and biting power and to understand why they are held in such 

 dread by the fishermen. 



The Bureau of Science collection also contains a specimen 680 

 millimeters long from Zamboanga, Mindanao, and a typical head, 

 133 millimeters in length, from Balabac Island. 



This eel looks something like Gymnothorax thyrsoideus, but 

 its body is more robust and less strongly compressed, the dark 

 patch at the gill opening is larger and more evident, the color of 

 the head is different, and the dentition is entirely unlike. 



A large species, reaching a length of 1,600 millimeters, and 

 of wide distribution, occurring throughout the warm parts of the 

 Indian and Pacific Oceans, north to Formosa and Hawaii, south to 

 Madagascar and the Austral Islands. 



Gymnothorax boschi Bleeker. 



Mursena boschi Bleeker, Verh. Bat. Gen. 25 (1853) Murasna 52; 



Weber and Beaufort, Fishes Indo-Austr. Arch. 3 (1916) 386. 

 Gymnothorax boschi Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Muraen. 4 (1864) 105, 



pi. 46, fig. 3. 

 Gymnothorax monochrous Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Mursen. 4 (1864) 



106, pi. 47, fig. 2. 

 Mursena afra Gunther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 8 (1870) 123; pro 



Depth 11 in total length and 1.78 in head, which is 2.6 in trunk 

 and about 7 in total length; head and trunk together exceed tail 

 by a third of head, tail a little less than 91 per cent of them or 

 about 47.54 per cent of total length ; eye moderately large, about 

 10 in head and 1 $ in the broad, rather blunt snout which is a 

 little more than 5.5 in head; mouth large, 2.25 in head; inter- 

 orbital space about three-fourths snout ; greatest width of head 

 about 3.75 in its length; posterior nostril over anterior margin 

 of eye; origin of dorsal in advance of gill openings about 0.3 



