282 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



51. CONGER HAMO, T. and S. 



Conger hamo, Temm. and Schleg., Fann. Jap. Pisces, p. 262, pi. 114, f. 2. 



Notes. — From Simonda, (length four feet.) 



The drawing is colored over the back of head and body of a rather uniform dusky slate, with 

 tinges of olive, lower parts nearly white. Irides silvery. Pectorals like back. Dorsal and 

 anal darker along the margin. 



In the Fauna Japonica it is said to attain a length of ten feet. The authors bad received it 

 also from the Straits of Sunda, and consider it different from the G. Tala-Bon of the same 

 locality. Dr. Kaup, in his " Uebersicht der Aale," in the Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte, 1856, 

 part 2, p. 74, places the Talabon in the genus Muraenesox of McClelland, where this species 

 also belongs. Bleecker, in his Nalezingen op de Ichthy van Japan, p. 54, seems to suppose that 

 the Hamo is the same as the G. bagio of McClelland. Under the name of Fammo this fish is 

 probably the one copied in Kaempfer, plate XII, No. 4. 



52. ANGUILLA MYRIASTER, N. S. 



PLATE XI, fig. 2. Reduced. 



Notes. — From Hakodadi. (Length 22 inches.) 



This distinctly marked species seems to be entirely new. It may be the Gongre a chapelet of 

 Cuvier, so named from a figure of Krusenstern's Atlas, pi. 60, fig. 7 — a reference which could 

 not be consulted. — (See note at foot of page 262 in the Fauna Japonica.) 



In its general appearance and form it resembles a common eel, and probably belongs to the 

 genus Anguilla. Snout to tip of caudal 22 inches. Snout to eyes f inch. Eyes T \ inch. Snout 

 to pectorals 3g- inches. Pectorals \\ inch. Snout to origin dorsal 4^ inches. Snout to origin 

 anal 9^ inches? Height of body about 1 \ inch. Dorsal rising very gradually, and highest 

 near the caudal. Anal of sub-equal height. 



Colors. — Eich wood-brown over the back, shading off lighter, but in blotches, below the 

 lateral line. Snout and head to back of eyes, and all the lower parts of the head and body of 

 a very pale slaty-blue tinged with brown towards caudal. Irides silvery. Dorsal of a pale 

 dusky slate, becoming more bluish towards caudal, and with a narrow margin of dark dusky 

 along its whole length. Towards the caudal, where the dorsal is higher, this margin is broader, 

 and shades off less abruptly. Anal of same color as the lower parts of the body, but towards 

 the caudal it has a margin like the dorsal. The most distinctive markings of this eel, however, 

 consist in two regular series* of snow white spots or dots on each side of the back, commencing a 

 short distance back of the eyes and running nearly to the caudal, becoming fainter as they 

 approach it. The uppermost series consists of very small dots about the diameter of the eyes 

 apart and set in very regular order, dropping a little, however, as they recede from the head. 

 The second series is composed of spots of twice the size of the first, much more closely set, and 

 apparently following the lateral line. Towards the caudal tbey seem to form a broken white 

 stripe only. The engraving represents the appearance of these spots very accurately as they 

 are given in the original drawing. • 



