616 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
other species in the genus which has been fully described) by the 
transverse gill-openings. 
Genus 9.— LETHARCHUS. 
Letharohus Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., 437, 1882 ( velifer ). 
Type: Letharchus velifer Goode & Beau. 
Etymology: ArjOojy.au , to forget; dpyfq, anal. 
This well-marked genus is represented by a single species, found in 
the Gulf of Mexico. 
ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIES OF LETHARCHUS. 
a. Teeth uniserial on jaws and vomer, small and directed inward and backward; 
snout long and pointed, projecting two-thirds its length beyond the lower jaw; 
gill-openings subiuferior, almost horizontal, equal to lower jaw, three times the 
breadth of the isthmus; nostrils not prominent, without tube; anterior under 
the tip of snout; lateral line distinct, extending forward in a curve, ending in a 
pore on the top of head, just in front of the beginning of the dorsal fin ; head 1| 
in trunk ; tail pointed, 1| in total length ; cleft of mouth | in head ; snout 9 in 
head and twice the, diameter of the eye. Plum-colored, head lighter, throat pale; 
dorsal fin white, edged with a broad band of black Velifer, 48. 
48. LETHARCHUS VELIFER. 
Letharchus velifer Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 437, 1882 (West Florida). 
Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. F. N. A., 896, 1883 (copied); Jordan, Proc. U. S. 
Nat. Mus., 33, 1884 (Pensacola). 
Habitat: West coast of Florida. 
Etymology : Velum , sail ; fero , I bear. 
Several specimens of this species have been obtained, all of them 
from the Snapper Banks between Pensacola and Tampa. The specimen 
before us was brought from Pensacola by Dr. Jordan. 
Genus 10.— MYRICHTHYS. 
• 
Pisoodonophis Kaup, Apodes, 15, 1856 (in part; not type, as restricted by Bleeker, 
which is P. cancrivorus) . 
Myrichthys Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 58 ( tigrinus ). 
Ophisurus Swainson, Bleeker, Jordan & Gilbert, etc., not of Lac6p&de, nor of Risso 
nor Kaup, who restrict the name to 0. serpens. 
Type : Myrichthys tigrinus Girard. 
Etymology: Mvpoq, Myrus ; lyOoq, fish. 
This genus contains numerous species, some of which are found in 
most tropical seas. It is well distinguished from Ophiehthus by its 
blunt teeth, bearing the same relation to Ophiehthus that Echidna does 
to Gymnotliorax. The Old World genus Pisoodonophis has also molar 
teeth, but in that group the dorsal is inserted much farther back, behind 
the gill-openings, as in Ophiehthus. 
We adopt for this genus the name Myrichthys , instead of Ophisurus , 
because the name Ophisurus was originally given to two species, neither 
