APODAL FISHES OF AMERICA AND EUROPE. 
607 
(d) Var. Januarius. 
Gymnothorax variegatus Castelnau, Anim. Am6r. Sad, Poise, (not Murcena variegata 
Lac^pMe), 83, pi. 43, fig. 2, 1855 (Rio Janeiro) (said to have the dorsal 
without dark spots). 
* Gymnothorax ocellatus januarius Jordan & Davis (after Castelnau). 
Habitat: West Indian fauna, Pensacola to Rio Janeiro. 
Etymology: Latin, ocellate. 
This small moray is rather common in the West Indies and northward 
to the coast of Florida. The numerous specimens before us are from 
Havana and the Snapper Banks, Cedar Keys, and Pensacola. This 
species differs from most of the other eels in having serrated teeth; 
this character seems to pass by degrees into the ordinary type and 
does not apparently justify the retention of a distinct genus ( Priodo - 
nophis=Xeomurcena= Pseudomurcena). This species varies considerably 
in color, a fact which has given rise to the recognition of some of its 
forms as distinct species. These forms seem to be absolutely alike in 
every respect except the coloration, and their differences are probably 
due to differences in the surroundings. 
The form with very large spots, the ground color being reduced to 
reticulations, called by Poey meleagris , abounds about the Snapper 
Banks among rocks at a considerable depth. The name meleagris being 
preoccupied, we have called this form var. saxieola , and we regard it as 
a deep-water form. The two known specimens of the fine-spotted form, 
nigromarginatus , are from very shallow water on sandy bottom. The 
form called variegata by Castelnau we have not seen. As the name is 
preoccupied we have substituted that of januarius . 
Genus 6. — MUR2ENA. 
Muraena Artedi, Gen. Pise., 23, 1738 (in part; includes all eels). 
Muraena Klein, Hist. Pise. Nat., 28, 1742 (in part; includes all eels without pectoral 
fins). 
Muraena Linnteus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, 243, 1758 ( helena , etc., includes all eels). 
Muraena Thunberg & Ahl, De Muraena et Opkictko, 6, 1789 (restricted to helena , 
etc. ; includes species without pectoral fins). 
Muraena Gunther and of authors generally (not of Bleeker). 
Gymnothorax Bloch, Ichthyologia, 1795 (in part, not type). 
Muraenophis Lac^pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 630, 1803 ( helena , etc.). 
Limamuraena Kaup, Apodes, 95, 1856 (guttata). 
Type : Murcena helena L. 
Etymology : Mupawa (Moray), ancient name of Murcena lielena. 
This genus as now restricted contains some ten species of the tropical 
seas, distinguished from Gymnothorax and from the rest of the family 
by the presence of two nasal barbels. 
The name Murcena , originally applied to all eels, should be restricted 
to the type of Murcena helena as we have already shown. It was first 
limited by Thunberg & Ahl in 1789 to the eels without pectoral fins, 
those with such fins being set off as Ophichthus. 
The restriction of Murcena to Murcena anguilla is much later. 
