586 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FTSH AND FISHERIES. 
ff. Posterior nostrils as well as anterior each in a conspicuous tube. 
Mur.ena, 6. 
dd . Teeth mostly obtuse, molar-like; anterior nostrils only tubular; cleft of 
mouth rather short ; dorsal beginning before the gill-opening. 
Echidna, 7. 
Genus l.—UROPTERYGIUS. 
Gymnomuraena Lacdpede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 648, 1803 {doliata ; marmorata). (Re- 
stricted first by Kaup, in 1856, to doliata, which is a species of Echidna.) 
Icthyophis Lesson, Voyage de la Coquille, 11, 129, 1830 ( pantherinus=marmoratu8 , not 
of Fitzinger, 1829, a genus of Reptiles. ) 
Uropterygius Riippell, Neue Wirbelthiere, Fische, 1838, 83 ( concolor ). 
Mursenofolenna Kaup, Apodal Fishes, 97, 1856 ( tigrina ), (not of Lacdpede, 1803, 
which is Myxine). 
Gymnomurasna Bleeker, Gunther, etc. (not of Lac^pMe, as restricted by Kaup). 
Type : Uropterygius concolor Riippell. 
Etymology: Odpd , tail; i rrijouE, fin. 
This genus contains several species of small Morays, distinguished by 
the apparent absence of fins. 
Of the various names applied to this group, only one, Uropterygius , 
is available, for reasons indicated above. Our species (with U. tigrinus) 
differs from the type of the genus U* concolor in the presence of a small 
tube on the anterior nostril. This hardly seems to justify further 
generic division. 
ANALYSIS OF THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF UROPTERYGIUS. 
a. Anterior nostril with a short tube ; posterior nostril without tube, situated di- 
rectly over the eye. 
b. Body dark brown above ; below paler with small dark freckles and pale spots ; 
under side of lower jaw light-colored with brownish and whitish blotches ; 
teeth in jaws biserial, outer teeth small, close together ; inner row composed 
of long depressible canines, not close set ; vomerine teeth uniserial ; a pore 
situated just above the posterior nostril; tail rather acute with a very 
slight dorsal fold, more conspicuous in old specimens, its tip, in young speci- 
mens, white ; caudal fin obsolete ; eye 2 to 2\ in snout ; cleft of mouth 2} to 2£ 
in head; head 3£ in trunk; tail£ longer than rest of body Necturus, 1. 
1. UROPTERYGIUS NECTURUS. 
Gymnomuraena nectura Jordan and Gilbert, Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., 356, 1882 (Cape 
San Lucas). 
Murcenoblenna nectura Jordan, Cat. Fish N. A., 51, 1885. 
Habitat : Gulf of California. 
Etymology : Nrjxryp, a swimmer; odpd , tail. 
This species is not rare in the Gulf of California. Besides the original 
type, we have examined several specimens obtained from near the 
entrance to the Gulf by Dr. Gilbert, another (43103, U. S. National 
Museum) probably also taken at Cape San Lucas by Mr. JohnXantus, 
and a much larger specimen (6349), 10J inches long, without locality. 
The large example is much more compressed in form, and it seems to 
