1849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1301 



rcena bagio, {Murcenesox hamiltonii, McClelland,) an incorrect copy is 

 given in Calc. Joum. of Nat. Hist. PI. VIII. Fig. 3.* This species 

 Mr. McClelland observes he never met ; yet the short description of 

 Murcenesox bengalensis, McClelland, differs from the former in no 

 essential character, except in the number of fin rays, which comparison 

 proves is liable to considerable individual variations in the present 

 species as well as in talabon. Buchanan himself is doubtful about the 

 correctness of his number of rays of bagio. Conger hamo, Temminck 

 et Schlegel, from Japan, only differs in the colours of the body which 

 above is greyish brown, and in having the iris silvery. In the Straits 

 of Malacca young individuals of Conger bagio are as plentiful as tala- 

 bon. Both are fierce and of voracious habits, preying upon fishes and 

 Crustacea, and their bite is dreaded by the fishermen. 



The anatomy of this species offers some slight differences from C. 

 talabon. The heart is situated nearer the head, immediately above 

 the gill-openings. The oesophagus extends but as far behind the latter 

 as half the distance from the muzzle to the angle of the mouth. The 

 cylindrical stomach extends to the anus and is ± of the total length, of 

 which the intestine is ^. The right lobe of the liver is a little larger 

 than the left. The pearl-coloured coats of the spindle-shaped air-vessel 

 are thick, not transparent ; the length is contained a little more than 

 2\ times in the total. 



Gen. Ophiurus, Lacepede, 1800. 



(LEPTOGNATHUS,f Swainson, 1838. — Ophithorax,J McClelland, 



1844). 



Dorsal and anal terminating before reaching the end of the tail, 

 which is without fins, terminating like a puncheon ; posterior aperture 

 of the nostril opens on the margin of the upper lip. 



* The drawing was first inscribed li Ophisuroides," afterwards altered by Bu- 

 chanan himself to " Murcenophn bagi." It represents the fish stretched, and thus 

 correctly gives the proportions. In Mr. McClelland's copy above quoted the fish is 

 doubled, by which some of the proportions are lost, and the apertures of the nostrils 

 are incorrectly copied. 



f Classif. of Fishes, I. 221, Fig. 42 ; II. 334. 



% (Scr. Ophiothorax.) Calcutta Journal, Nat. Hist. V. 173 and 212. 



