72 



Common in the ditches and dikes of the salt-marshes. Mr. Jones 

 states* that it attains the weight of two or three pounds, and is very 

 destructive to young ducklings. It is not eaten. 



I obtained a specimen measuring five inches, which I refer with some 

 hesitation to the above species, as measurements made from speci- 

 mens contracted by strong alcohol are not satisfactory. The length of 

 the head is contained once and a half in the distance between the gill- 

 opening and the dorsal, twice in the distance between the gill-opening 

 and the vent. The distance between the origins of the dorsal and anal 

 is contained once and a half in the length of the head. 



MUEJ5NIDJE. 



GYMNOTHOEAX MORINGA, (Cuvier) Goocle. 

 Speckled Maray. 



Murcena macuTata nigra (Black Marey), Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and 



Bahamas, ii, 1743, 21, tab. 21, 174. 

 Murcena moringa, Cuvieb, Regno Animal, 1817. — Stokek, Syn.Fish N.Am. 1846,235 

 Murcena moringua, Riciiakdsox, Voy. H. M. S. S. Erebus & Terror, Ichth. 1846, 89. — 



K.ut, Cat. Apod. Fish. Brit. Mus. 1856, 89. 

 Gymnothorax rostrataa, Agassiz, in Spix's Selecta Gen. et Spec. Brasil, 1829, 91, tab. 1, 



a.— Mull & TfiOSCH., Schomburgk's Hist. Barbados, 1848, 676.— Poey, Rep. 



ii, 1860-1, 259, 427.— Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. Phila. 1870, 483. 

 Murenophia roatratua, Castelnau, Anim. Nouv. ou Bares, Amerique du Sud, 1855, 80, 



pl.xlii, f. 1. 

 Murenophia curvilineata, Castelnau, op. cit. 81, pL xlii, f. 2. 



Occasional: the species occurs throughout the West Indies, at Bahia and 

 at Saint Helena. My specimen measures three feet, and has the verti- 

 cal fins edged with white. These fishes are said to attain a length of five 

 or six feet, and are considered excellent food by the lower classes : I am 

 told, however, that serious cases of poisoning have been occasioned by 

 their use. The Speckled Maray is not rare, but by no means as common 

 as the Green Maray. I saw a single specimen of the latter, but as I could 

 not obtain it for study I was unable to determine its specific relations. 

 It resembles closely the " Moray" of Catesby,t which I have reasou to 

 believe is not identical with his " Black Moray", as is generally sup- 

 posed. 



* Naturalist ia Bermuda, p. 103. 



tXat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and Bahamas, 20, pi. xx— Murcena maculata nigra 

 and ciridis. 



