632 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES 
71. OPHICHTHUS PACIFIC! 
Ophichthys pad fici Guntlier, vm, 76, 1870 (Valparaiso, Chile; Tambo River, Peru). 
Habitat: Coasts of Chile and Peru. 
Etymology: From the Pacific Ocean. 
This species is known from Gunther’s description only s 
72. OPHICHTHUS GOMESI. 
(Sea Serpent.) 
Ophisurus gomesii Castelnau, Anim. Amer. Sud, 84, pi. 44, fig.-2, 1355 (Rio Janeiro). 
Lepiorhmophis gomesii Kaup, Apodes, 14, 1856 (copied), 
Ophichthys gomesii Giinther, vm, 60, 1870 (copied). 
Ophisuru8 chrysops Poey, Memorias, ii, 321, 1867 (Havana). 
Ophichthys chrysops Poey, Repertorio, n, 255, 1867; Poey, Synopsis, 425, 1868; Poey, 
Enuineratio, 154, 1875; Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 261, 1882 
(Peusacola); Jordan & Gilbert, ibid, 487 (Charleston). 
Ophichthys chrysops Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 898, 1883; Jordan, Cat. Fish. 
N. A., 53, 1885. 
Oxyodontichthys chrysops Poey, Anal. Soc. Hist. Nat. Esp.,254, 1880 (Cuba). 
Oxyodontichthys macrurus Poey, Anal. Soc. Hist. Nat. Esp., 254, 1880 (Havana). 
Oxyodontichthys brachyurus Poey, Synopsis, 426, 1868 (Havana); Poey, Enuineratio, 
ii, 155, 1875. 
Oxyodontichthys limbatus Poey, Anal. Hist. Nat. Esp., 254, 1880 (based on type of O. 
brachyurus). 
• Habitat: West Indian fauna, Charleston to Rio Janeiro. 
Etymology: Named for Dr. Ildefonso Gomes, who cured the Comte 
de Castelnau of a dangerous malady in Rio Janeiro. 
This species is generally common in the West Indies, ranging as far 
north as Charleston, Galveston, and Pensacola. The specimens before 
us are from the Snapper Banks of Pensacola, from St. Augustine, Flor- 
ida, and from Charleston, South Carolina. 
A careful comparison of our specimens with the various published 
descriptions leads us to regard chrysops , macrurus , and brachyurus as 
syuouyms of O. gomesi. In most respects these nominal species fully 
agree. Our specimens correspond best to the descriptions of chrysops , 
from which brachyurus (afterwards callejd limbatus) seems to be insepa- 
rable. Macrurus is said to have the head and body contained If times 
in the tail, while in chrysops the number is If, and in brachyurus If. 
Our specimens show the ratio of If to If. As these numbers are inter- 
mediate, and as no other difference appears, we refer all to the same- 
species. O. gomesi , poorly described and figured by Castelnau, is prob- 
ably the same species, rather than O. parilis. 
The following are the chief characters given in the descriptions of 
the different nominal species here referred to the synonymy of Ophichthus 
gomesii : In a specimen before us from St. Augustine the head is 2§ in 
the trunk, the head and trunk is If in the tail, cleft of mouth 2f in head. 
In one from Charleston (29970 U. S. Nat. Mus.) the head is 2f in trunk, 
the head aud trunk If in tail, the cleft of the mouth 2§ in head. In 
one from Pensacola (43117) these figures are 2f, If, and 2§. 
