446 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Vol. V, 



are in two rows also in the mandible; there are no canine teeth (text-fig. 13). The 

 lips are not fringed. The tongue is fully adnate to the floor of the mouth. 



The gill-openings are low down and are oblique slits, wide apart anteriorly ; the 

 posterior ends of these slits are somewhat closer; the opercular flaps (i.e. margins of 

 the slits) are slightly concave ; the length of these slits is equal to the length of the 

 snout. The opercular covering becomes continuous with the loose and the swollen 

 integument over the accessory branchial cavity. The pectoral fin is slightly elongated 

 and fan-shaped and is supported by fourteen branching rays; the length of this fin 

 almost equals that of the upper jaw. The dorsal fin is rather low, though it is higher 

 than the anal fin; it begins behind the opening of the gill-slits at a distance of one- 

 third of the length of the head and continues the whole length of the back, stopping 

 short only at the free end of the caudal extremity, and is thus not continuous with 

 the anal fin. The anal fin is slightly lower than the dorsal fin above and commences 

 close behind the vent at a distance of one diameter of the eye; it continues along the 



Fig. 12. — Ophichthus chilkensis, Chaudhuri x 



2 



3- 



mid- ventral line to the free caudal extremity, stopping directly under the end of the 

 dorsal fin above. 



The lateral line is well marked throughout the length and appears to be con- 

 tinuous with the system of openings of the muciferous glands on the head ; it runs 

 along the side slightly above the middle line. 



The colour of the body is dark olive-brown, but it is lighter about the abdomen. 

 The fins are dull white except in the last third of the anal fin, this portion being 

 entirely black. 



The generic name Ophichthus has priority over Ophisurus , which has been used 

 also in other groups. The name Ophichthys is of course the more correct form philo- 

 logically and this corrected spelling was first introduced by Bleeker, who has been 

 followed by recent authors generally. Priority however demands the restoration of 

 the generic name in its original spelling as used by Ahl in 1789. 



The new species appears to be intermediate between Ophichthus boro (Ham. Buch.) 



