612 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
This species is known from the single specimen described by Professor 
Cope, and from a small specimen (43102, U. S. N. M.), of doubtful lo- 
cality, supposed to have been taken by Mr. Xantus at Cape San Lucas. 
Cope says the anal fin is a little more than one-third the total length. 
This statement does not agree with our specimen. 
41. ECHIDNA CATENATA. 
Murcena sen conger brasiliensis Seba, Thesaurus, n, 72, tab. 69, fig. 4, 5,1738 (fide Bleeker). 
Gymnotliorax catenatus Bloch, Ausl. Fische, xii, 74, tab. 415, fig. 1, 1795 ; Bloch & 
Schneider, 528, 1801 (“Coromandel”). 
Murcena catenata Richardson, Voy. Erebus and Terror, Fishes, 95, 1844 ( fide Gunther); 
Gunther, vm, 130, 1870 (Surinam, Puerto Cabello, Trinidad. Dominica, St. 
Croix, Barbadoes). 
Pcecilophis catenatus Kaup, Apodes, 100, 1856 (Bermudas, Caribbean Sea). 
Echidna catenata Bleeker, Ned. Tyds. Dierkunde, ii, 242, 1865 (Surinam) ; Cope, Tians. 
Amer. Phil. Soc., 482, 1870 (St. Martin’s); Poey, Euumeratio, 160, 1875; 
Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., v, 73, 1876 (Bermuda); Jordan, Proc. U. S. 
Nat. Mus., 647, 1889 (St. Lucia). 
Murcenophis catenula Lac6pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 628 and 641, 1803 (after Bloch). 
.Murcenophis undulata Lacdpede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 629, tab. 19, f. 2, 1803. 
Murcena sordida Cuvier, Regne Animal, ed. 1, 233, 1817 (based on Seba, lxix, 4). 
Murcena alusis Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sc. Ind. Neerl., 67, 1855 (fide Bleeker). 
Echidna f uscomaculata Poey, Repertorio, ii, 263, 1868 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 428, 
1868. 
Echidna flavoscripta Poey, Repertorio, ii, 264 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 428, 1868. 
Habitat: West Indian fauna. 
Etymology: Latin, chained, from the markings. 
This species is rather common in the West Indies and Caribbean 
Sea. The specimens before us are from Port Castries, St. Lucia. 
Family II.— OPHISURID^E. 
(The Snake Eels.) 
We adopt for the present the family Ophisuridce , in the sense in 
which (under the name Ophisuroidei) it is defined by Bleeker. It in- 
cludes those Enchelycephalous eels which are scaleless, and have the 
end of the tail projecting beyond the dorsal and anal fins and without 
even the rudiment of a caudal fin. The anterior nostrils are placed in the 
upper lip, opening downwards, the gill-openings are not confluent, and 
the tongue is more or less fully adnate to the floor of the mouth. The 
species are, for the most part, moderate or small in size, and they are 
very abundant in the tropical seas, especially about the coral reefs. 
The eggs are numerous, of moderate size, similar to those of ordinary 
fishes. Most of the known genera are found in America, but less than 
half the species. Many of the species are singularly colored, the bands 
or spots heightening the analogy between them and the serpents. 
