126 Edward Phelps AUis jr., 



Returning then to Conger, I found that certain details in the 

 arrangement of the canals of this fish, that had formerly greatly 

 puzzled me, were easily understood, but I still could not identify all 

 of the bones that enclosed the canals because of the apparent com- 

 plete fusion of certain of them with other adjacent bones. I then 

 tried to obtain young Congers, immediately after, duriiig, and before 

 the metamorphosis, feeling certain that in these young stages I would 

 get some positive indication of the components of these fused bones 

 of the adult. The youngest specimen I have so far been able to ob- 

 tain, is, however, one 80 mm long, and in this certainly quite young 

 specimen the cranial bones are exactly the same in number and 

 general arrangement as they are in the adult. This young specimen, 

 and also three other considerably larger ones, were kindly sent me by 

 the Zoological Station at Naples; and I have also received ten speci- 

 mens about 15 cm to 20 cm long from Dr. Davidoff of the Laboratoire 

 Maritime Russe, Villefranche. The 80 mm specimen, and also one of 

 the larger ones, were sectioned for me by Mr. H. H. Swinnerton of 

 the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, London, but, for the 

 reason given above, they only served to control the results already 

 arrived at in the dissections of the adult which were prepared for 

 me by my assistant, Mr. Jujiro Nomura. 



I was then led to examine certain other of the Muraenidae, 

 partly to see if the peculiarities in the lateral canals of Conger were 

 limited to that member only of the family, and partly hoping to find, 

 as separate bones, the bones so evidently completely fused in Conger. 

 For this purpose I have used the adults of Ophicthys serpens, Myrus 

 vulgaris, and Muraena helena, but they have given me nothing not 

 already found in Conger. I shall however briefly describe the general 

 course of the canals in each of these three fishes, before beginning 

 the more detailed discussion of the canals in Conger. 



Ophicthys serpens. 



The main infraorbital canal of this fish (figs. 1—4) begins at a 

 single pore that lies slightly posterior to the anterior nasal aperture. 

 This nasal aperture of the fish is a small opening on the summit of 



