636 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
This species is not rare in the West Indies, and has been occasionally 
taken on the west coast of Florida. The four examples before us are 
from Lemon Bay, Eguiont Key, St. Thomas, and Pensacola. A care- 
ful comparison of the descriptions of different writers with our speci- 
mens leads us to the conclusion that the forms called intertinctus , 
punctifer , schneideri , and mordax belong to one species. 0 . sclmeideri is 
said to have the vomerine teeth biserial, while in punctifer {—mordax) 
they are triserial. Our specimens have the teeth biserial or somewhat 
triserial in front. In the forms called intertinctus the teeth are biserial 
in front and uniserial behind. In the type of 0. sugillatus the vomerine 
teeth are said to be uniserial. This species is said to have the pectorals 
longer thau in intertinctus , as long as eye and snout. Probably all these 
characters represent variation of individuals. 
78. MYSTRIOPHIS MIURUS. 
Ophichthys miurus Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 387, 1882 (Cape San Lucas). 
Habitat : Pacific coast of Mexico. 
Etymology : Mewbpo curtailed, from the short tail. 
This species is known only from two specimens, both taken at Cape 
* San Lucas by Mr. John Xantus. One of these, 43104, has been only 
lately found in the Museum collections. 
This species has little relation to any other found in America, 
although ip coloration it is much like intertinctus , ophis , and triserialis. 
Genus 17.— BRAOHYSOMOPHIS. 
Brachysomophis Kaup, Apodes, 9, 1856 ( horridus ). 
? Achirophichthys Bleeker, Poissons In6d. Murenes, Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk., ii, 42; 
typus == young. 
Type : Brachysomophis horridus Kaup. 
Etymology : Bpaybq , short ; ad>p.a , body $ tytq, snake. 
Tbis East Indian genus is once recorded in our fauna. 
ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIES OF BRACHYSOMOPHIS. 
a. [Teeth unequal in size ; maxillary teeth in a double row, those of the inner row 
stronger and less numerous than the outer; vomerine and mandibular teeth unise- 
rial; large canine teeth; head 3 in trunk; snout extremely short and rather flat- 
tened, scarcely twice as long as the eye, which is small and situated in the anterior 
ninth of the length of the head; vertical fins moderately well developed; dis- 
tance between the origin of the dorsal tin and gill-opening 2£ in head ; pectoral 
small ; body longer than tail. Upper parts brownish, minutely dotted with 
darker; a series of black pores along the lateral line, sometimes a whitish line 
across the occiput. ] ( Gunther. ) Crocodilinus, 79. 
79. BRACHYSOMOPHIS CROCODILINUS. 
Ophisurus crocodilinus Bennett, Proc. Com. Zool. Soc., 32, 1831 ( fide Gunther). 
Opliichthys crocodilinus Giinther, viii, 64, 1870 (Galapagos Islands). 
Brachysomophis horridus Kaup, Apodes, 9, tig. 6, 1856 (Otaheite); Bleeker, “Versl. 
Medel. Akad. Wet. Amsterd., ii, 303, 1868 ” {fide Gunther). 
? Achirophichthys typus, Bleeker, Ned. Tydschr. Dierk., 42 (Celebes). 
