1318 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes, [Dec. 



arch appears a small blind fossa, without sac, like that discovered by 

 M. Johannes M tiller in another Indian species : Symbranchus imma- 

 culatus, Bloch. (J, Milller : Myxinoiden in Abhandl. der Konigl. Akad. 

 der Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1839. Berlin, 1841, p. 245.) On each 

 side of the pharynx is a small oval fleshy tubercle, behind which a 

 second one studded with minute card-like teeth, and immediately behind 

 the middle of the posterior branchial arch appear a few similar teeth, 

 forming a short linear group accompanying the arch. The lax undi- 

 vided gill-membrane is externally marked by some longitudinal furrows ; 

 the posterior margin is backwards arched and extends to the upper 

 third of the side, the origin of the lateral line. The bony branchios- 

 tegous rays are short, but strong, compressed and of equal length ; the 

 four upper ones are separated by a short interval from the two lower, 

 which are also placed farther from each other than the preceding. Of 

 the four densely fringed branchiae the posterior is the shortest, and 

 closely connected to the third branchial arch by a membrane with a 

 small oval aperture in the middle. The lateral line is a groove com- 

 mencing at the angle of the gill-opening, and continuing a little nearer 

 the back than the abdomen towards the anus ; it proceeds along the 

 middle of the side of the tail to the caudal. The greatest vertical dia- 

 meter, at the occiput, is contained 3^ times in the length of the head ; 

 at the anus 4J. The length of the tail varies from about } to § of the 

 total. The skin is naked and lubricated by mucus. The membranous 

 dorsal commences opposite the anus, but is not distinct on the anterior 

 third of the tail. The anal resembles the dorsal ; the height of either 

 scarcely exceeds J of the vertical diameter at the anus. Both unite 

 with the short pointed caudal, which contains ten minute, jointed, sim- 

 ple rays. A solitary, apparently young, individual occurred at Pinang 

 in September 1843 ; a second, 6f inch in length, in February 1845. 



The distance from the gill-opening to the heart slightly exceeds the 

 length of the head. The digestive canal is a little less than f of the 

 total length. The oesophagus and stomach form an elongated cylinder, 

 which gradually widens towards the pylorus, which is internally 

 marked by a valve. The duodenum, which is narrower than the fundus 

 of the stomach is situated in the middle of the digestive canal. The 

 intestines form a simple cylinder, widening towards the rectum, without 

 csecopyloric appendages or circumvolutions. The liver consists of a 



