APODAL MALACOPTERYGIANS. 223 



We find some which have a single row of lateral round teeth, and two 

 rows also round on the vomer, the anterior ones conical*. 



Another has two rows of lateral round teeth, and four rows, also round, 

 on the vomer, forming a kind of pavement. The fins of this species are 

 scarcely apparent'}-. 



Finally, there are others which have several rows of teeth resembling 



those of a card; and in the Mediterranean one of these is found, which is 



M. saga, Risso, Ed. I, f. 39 ; La Sorciere. Remarkable for its 



elongated, round, and pointed jaws, and the extension of its tail into 



a very sharp point J. The 



Sphagebranchus, BL 



Differ from the Mursena by their branchial openings reaching each other 

 under the throat. The vertical fins, in several species, only begin to 

 project near the tail; the snout is extended and pointed. The stomach 

 is a long cul-de-sac, the intestine straight, and the bladder long, narrow, 

 and placed behind. 



Some species are totally deprived of pectorals §. 



Others have small vestiges of them ||. 



There are even some, — the Apterichtes, Dumer., Cecilies, Lacep., 

 in which no vertical fin whatever can be perceived, and consequently are 

 Fishes without fins^[. 



MoNOPTERTjs, Commers. and Lacep. 



This genus has the two branchial apertures united under the throat in 

 a transverse fissure, divided in the middle by a partition; the dorsal and 

 anal only visible in the middle of the tail, and uniting at its point; teeth 

 like those of a card in the jaws and palatines; six rays in each gill, and 

 only three very small branchiae. 



M. javanensis, Lacep. The only species known ; back green, 

 and a fawn-coloured belly. From the Sunda islands**. 



Synbranchus, BL — Unibranchaperture, Lacep. 



Are distinguished from Sphagebranchus by their branchiae having no ex- 

 ternal communication, except through the medium of a single opening 

 under the throat; this aperture is round and longitudinal, and is common 

 to both organs. They are destitute of pectoral fins, and their vertical 



* Murenophis etuile, Lacep., or M. nebulosa, Thunb., Seb. II, lxix, 1; — M. ondule, 

 Lac. V, xix, 2 (M. catenates, BL, Schn.); — M. sordida, Cuv., Seb. II, lxix, 4. 



f Gymnomur&ne cerclee, Lacep. V, xix, 4, or M. zebra, Shaw, Seb. II, lxx, 3. 



% The Nettasoma melanura, Rafm., Caratt., pi. xvi, f. 1, is at least closely allied to 

 this Saga of Risso. N. B. The Dalophis of Kafinesque, Caratt., pi. vii, f. 2, 3, should 

 be edentated Mursenae, but we do not know them. 



§ Sphagebranchus rostra/ its, Bl. 419, 2, and the Leptocephalus Spal/anzani, Risso, 

 85; — Cacttla pterygea, Vail., Mem. d'Hist. Nat.de Copenh. Ill, xiii, 1, 2, Monti- 

 bukaro; aumu, Russel, 1, 37. 



|| Sphagebranchus imberbis, Laroche, Aim. Mus. XIII, xxv, 18. 



^] Marietta ceeea, L., Laroche, Ann. Mus. XIII, xxi, 6. 



** I suspect it is the same fish figured by Lacep. V, xvii, 3, under the different 

 name of Unibranchaperture lisse. 



