MURJENA ZEBRA. 421 



brane passes down to the lower part of the abdomen, continuing to be 

 attached to the back, and to the fore part of the intestine ; it is very 

 loose and fat, and would seem to answer the purpose of an epiploon. 

 The duodenum, &c. form all one gut, which is almost straight, making 

 only a few serpentine turns to the anus. The intestine has also a 

 mesentery attaching it through its whole length to the vena portarum. 

 This is a long and straight vein, running the whole length of the 

 abdomen, receiving the veins of the guts, spleen, &c. ; it then passes 

 along the concave surface of the liver, sending its branches into that 

 viscus, and, by the time it has reached the diaphragm, is entirely lost 

 in it. The gall-bladder is detached from the liver, and adheres to the 

 beginning of the duodenum. The heart is attached to the pericardium 

 by a number of small filaments at different places. 



The aorta is a union of the branchial veins. There are five open- 

 ings of the gills in the mouth [on each side]. The external opening- 

 is one, bike a slit upwards and downwards, just before the pectoral fin, 

 which is very oblique, like the entrance of the ureters into the bladder, 

 being much further back than the openings from the mouth, and it is 

 membranous like that of the conger eel. 



The Zebra Eel, from Sumatra 1 [Murana Zebra, Cuv. 2 ]. 



It is of a dark colour, but striped almost transversely with whitish 

 narrow stripes, some of which do not go all round, nor are those which 

 do perfectly parallel. It has a broad tail but no fin. The skin is very 

 loose, more especially towards the anterior end. There is one opening 

 into the [cavity containing the] gills, which are five in number [on 

 each side]. The teeth are flat, [the jaws being] as if studded by them. 



The oesophagus is large, which is continued into the stomach. The 

 stomach is a continuation of the oesophagus, being in the same fine, 

 terminating in a point at the lower end. The duodenum comes out on 

 the fore and right side of the stomach, near the termination of the 

 oesophagus, and bends down directly, passing along the right side of 

 the stomach. It is large, about the size of the stomach, being irregu- 

 larly honeycombed on the inside 3 . At the lower end it contracts 

 pretty quickly, and then is thrown into short bends upon itself, being 

 attached or kept in this state by a thin membrane ; it is continued in 



1 [From Wm. Bell, in 1792.— W. Clift.] 



2 [Skeletons of two species of Murmna are preserved in the Hunt. Osteol. Series, 

 Nos. 36, 37.] 



3 [Hunt. Prep. Phys. Series, No. 630.] 



