JS93.] A. Alcock — Account of the Beep Sea Collection. 183 



Family Muraenidse. 



CONGROMUR-ffiNA, Kaup. 



7. Congromursena saualiceps, n. sp., allied to C. megastoma. Gthr. 

 and C. longicauda, Alcock. 



Head about an eye-length longer than the trunk, which is not quite 

 one-fourth the length of the tail. The snout, which projects far beyond 

 the mouth, is a little more than one-fifth the head in length. The 

 major diameter of the very elliptical eye is not quite two-thirds of the 

 length of the snout. The anterior nostril is a short wide tube situated 

 on the lip near the end of the snout, the posterior is a wide foramen 

 situated in advance of and above the angle of the eye. The mouth-cleft 

 is wide, extending almost to the vertical through the posterior border 

 of the orbit, and the lips are greatly developed : the minute teeth are in 

 bands in the jaws, and in a broad rasp-like patch outside the mouth in 

 the premaxillary ; there are a few teeth on the vomer quite anteriorly. 

 Gill-openings comparatively wide, separate. No scales : lateral line 

 with small pores. Pectorals narrow, half an eye-length longer than the 

 snout. Vertical fins confluent, the dorsal beginning nearly an eye- 

 length in advance of the gill-opening. 



Colour in spirit, grey, the vertical fins in their after half to two- 

 thirds with a black edge, which in the anal tends to involve the whole 

 fin. A veiy large air-bladder extending half a head-length beyond the 

 vent. Visceral peritoneum silvery. A sexually mature male 15 inches 

 long from the Bay of Bengal, 128 fathoms. 



8. Congromursena nasica, n. sp. Allied to the preceding group. 

 Head depressed, an eye-length longer than the trunk, which is much 



more than a-fourth the length of the tail (1 : about 3 - 4). 



The snout, which projects beyond the mouth, is a fourth the length 

 of the head and nearly twice the major diameter of the eye. The nos- 

 trils are as in the preceding species. 



The mouth cleft extends almost to the vertical through the poste- 

 rior border of the orbit. The teeth are in two bands in each jaw, an 

 inner band of minute teeth, and an outer broader band of larger teeth : 

 the premaxillary teeth are in bands outside of the closed mouth, and the 

 vomerine teeth are in a single row along the anterior fourth of the bone. 



Gill-openings comparatively wide, separate. No scales : lateral line 

 with minute pores. Pectorals narrow, equal to the snout in length. 

 Vertical fins confluent, the dorsal beginning over the gill-opening. 



Colour in spirit gray, the vertical fins in their after third to fourth 

 with a much narrower black edge. Visceral peritoneum black. 



