APODAL FISHES OF AMERICA AND EUROPE. 
661 
equal to trunk, 3jm tail without fin; depth 13 in total length; pectoral 
3£ in head ; dorsal beginning in advance of gill-opening, its distance from 
tip of snout slightly less than half the distance from snout to anal. Uni- 
form light brown ; fins dusky, black near tip of tail, and there with narrow 
bright white margin ; mouth, gill-cavity and peritoneum black.] ( Gilbert ) 
Prorigerum, 117. 
cc. Tail much more than twice length of body; body slender; tail compressed; 
lower jaw considerably shorter than the upper; dorsal beginning slightly 
in advance of the root of the pectoral. Head If in trunk, 5f in tail; tail 
2§ times as long as head and trunk ; snout 4£ in head, very soft ; eye very 
large, 7' in head, If in snout; interorbital area 2 in eye ; cleft of mouth 
3£ in head, extending slightly behind middle of eye; pectoral long and 
narrow, 2f in head, If times as long as gill-slit. Color olivaceous, upper 
parts of head and body with numerous fine black dots ; a silvery shade 
across opercles and below lateral line ; peritoneum bright silvery, giving 
belly a pale color; dorsal and anal with a narrow black margin, below 
which are a. few small spots; pectoral pale Nitens, 118. 
114. OPHISOMA BALEARICUM. 
Murcena balearica De La Roche, Ann. Mus., 327, fig. 3, 1809 ( fide Gunther). 
Conger balearicus Costa, Faun. Nap. Pesc., tab. 29, 1845 (fide Giinther). 
Conger- Murcena balearica Kaup, Apcdes, 110, 1856. 
Congromurcena balearica Gunther, viii, 41, 1870 (Malta ; Algiers). 
Ophisoma balearicum Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1891 (Galapagos Islands). 
Echelus ciuciara Rafinesque, Caratteri, 65, 1810 (Sicily). 
Murcena cassini Risso, Ich. Nice, 91, 1810 (Nice). 
Ophisoma acuta Swainson, Fish. Rept. Amph., ii, 396, 1839 (Sicily). 
Conner opisthophthalmus Ranzani, DeNov. Spec. Pise. Disser., Prima 16, tab. v, fig. 1, 
1838 (Bahia). 
Conger microstomas Castelnau, Anim. Nouv. Rares, Am^rique du Sud, 83, pi. 42. fig. 
4, 1855 (Rio Janeiro). 
Conger analis Poey, Memorias, II, 318, 1860 (Havana). 
Ophisoma analis Poey, Repertorio, n, 248, tab. 3, fig. 3, 1866 (Havana). 
Congromurcena analis Poey, Enumeratio, 152, 1875 (Havana). 
Conger impressus Poey, Mem. Cub., n, 318, 1850 (Cuba). 
Ophisoma impressus Poey, Repertorio, ii, 248, 1866. 
Congromurcena impressa Poey, Enumeratio, 152, 1875. 
Congromurcena mellissii Gunther, viii, 42, 1870 (St. Helena). 
Leptocephalus conger Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 378, 1883 (Cape St. 
Lucas). 
Habitat: Mediterranean Sea and both Atlantic and Pacific shores of 
tropical America. 
Etymology: From the Balearic Islands. 
This species is not rare in the Mediterranean Sea, and apparently 
extends to both the Atlantic aud Pacific shores of tropical America. 
As it now stands the range of the species is wide, aud there may prove, 
upon comparison of specimens from different parts of the range, to be 
specific differences ; as yet no such comparison has been made. The 
specimens before us are from Palermo, and from the Bonaparte collec- 
tion without locality. We have compared these with Poey’s account of 
the Cuban species called impressus , and can find no difference. Conger 
analis Poey, also from Cuba, seems to differ only in the slightly larger 
