198 BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF FISHERIES. 



Of this strongly marked species, known by its many small yellow spots, black gill-opening and 

 white-tipped tail, we have one large specimen from Apia. Color in life bright brown, with every- 

 where stellate spots of yellowish white, the spots round and much, smaller than eye, smaller on the 

 head and slightly larger and much farther apart on tail; belly, chin, snout, and throat spotted like 

 the body; fins dusky-edged, spotted; tail broadly tipped with white; gill-opening black. 



178. Gymnothorax xanthostomus Snyder. Hawaii. 



179. Gymnothorax leucostictus Jenkins. Hawaii. 



180. Gymnothorax goldsboroughi Jordan & Evermann. Hawaii. 



181. Gymnothorax nuttingi Snyder. Hawaii. 



182. Gymnothorax eurostus ( Abbott) . Hawaii. 



183. Gymnothorax thyrsoideus (Richardson). Samoa; Tonga; Guam; Fat6 and Tubuai (Seale); 



East Indies. 

 Murxna thyrsoidea Richardson, Voyage Sulphur, 111, 1815. not fig., China. Giinther, Cat., vm, 113, China, Pinang. 



Steindachner, Sitz. Ak. Wiss. Wien 1900, 514, French Pass. 

 Murxna griseobadia Richardson, Voyage Erebus and Terror, S9, Tonga. 

 Murxna prompeion Bleeker, Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind., iv, 300, East Indies. 

 Gymnothorax prosopeion, Bleeker, Atlas, Mursenida?, 88, tab. xxxix, fig. 3. 

 Murxna tile, Seale, Bishop Museum, 1901, 62, Guam; not of Hamilton. 



This widely diffused species may be known by its pale color and small whitish spots, with the 

 anterior part of the head abruptly blackish. It is probably the species called Murxna tile by Seale. 



A small specimen from Pago Pago. Color in life light gray, mottled with light purple, leaving the 

 ground-color as pale spots; head distinctly dark purplish or blackish; iris white; gill-opening and 

 angle of mouth pale; dorsal colored like the body, with a broad pale edge; anal pale. 



184. Gymnothorax pictus (Ahl). Pusi gatala. Hawaii; Samoa; New Guinea; Tahiti; Rarotonga; 



Mangareva; Makatea; Shortland I. (Seale); East Indies. 



This species, readily known by its pale color and purplish specklings which gradually gather 

 together with age to form dark spots, is very common throughout the South Seas. We have about 10 

 specimens of various sizes from Samoa, the largest representing the form called Gymnothorax sidereus, 

 which is the adult. Gymnothorax Vitus, a closely allied form, seems to us a distinct species. 



Color in life of a specimen from Apia, light gray, very finely dotted and marbled with purplish 

 gray, which is purplish brown in larger examples; adult with numerous irregular diffuse transverse 

 bars made up of dark spots, streaks and reticulations, these being a little denser in the bars; these 

 bars composed of three lengthwise series of denser areas, which gradually with age form series of dark 

 spots, the uppermost on the dorsal; top of head and snout densely speckled like the body; chin and 

 throat with scattered purplish specks, which disappear on the belly, which is white; angle of mouth 

 and gill-opening uncolored; anal speckled like the body, the edge less spotted. 



In the young there are neither spots nor bars, but the ground-color is covered with reticulations 

 of different degrees of intensity, the fish always pale purplish with white belly. 



185. Gymnothorax litus (Richardson). Tahiti; Marquesas Is. ; Samoa; East Indies. 

 Murxna lita Richardson, Voyage Erebus and Terror, 81, 1846, Moluccas. 



Gymnothorax pictus Bleeker, Atlas, Murtenidai, in part, tab. xxix, fig. 1, but not description. 

 Murxna nigrolineata Kaup, Apodes, 66, 1854, Marquesas Is. 

 Murxna chrysops Kaup, Apodes, 70, 1854, Tahiti. 



Of this species w : e have several specimens from Apia. It is close to Gymnothorax pictus, but is 

 apparently distinct, having the color darker, and the lower jaw and throat profusely marked with 

 blackish lines. This region is faintly speckled in G. pictus. G. chrysops seems to be the same species 

 and G. nigrolineatus also may be the same. 



Color in life of a specimen from Apia, ground-color yellowish olive, darker above, thickly 

 covered with reticulations and specklings of dark purplish brown, darker than in 6. pictus; some trace 

 of irregular dark reticulated cross-streaks on tail; fins colored like the body, as are head, throat and 

 belly; lower jaw and throat closely spotted; no black at angle of mouth nor on gill-opening; no pale 

 edges to fins. 



