newly discovered genus of serpentiformfish.es. 51 
serpents, has been remarked in the earliest ages ; Aristotle 
has expressly stated, that there are many species of sea ser- 
pents, among which tribe he evidently includes the branchial 
apodes, for he has particularized one of these as par excel- 
lence the 0 <pig SahctTTt of. This is the murasna serpens of 
Linnaeus, or the ophisurus of Lacepede, a creature of a more 
cylindrical form than the eel, and possessing other points of 
resemblance to the snake tribe ; but although, in the present 
day, the term sea serpent would be ill applied to any animal 
which breathes by means of branchiae, yet among such crea- 
tures, excluding the genera hydrus and hydrophis, and other 
true water snakes which inhabit tropical seas, I doubt if the 
subject of this communication be not at least as well entitled 
to that appellation as any hitherto described. From the 
several genera of animals however nearest allied to it, it 
offers points of disagreement so important, as to entitle it to 
a distinct place in classification, and especially from the for-r 
mation of the jaws, which, with the exception of the apparent 
want of serpentiform inter-articular bones, are truly analogous 
to those of snakes ; and, secondly, from the possession of an 
enormous elastic sac, which is seemingly a receptacle for air 
only. The first of these latter characters appearing to be 
the one, of all least liable to vary, I would suggest the term 
Ophiognathus as applicable to the genus ; its characters are 
as follow : 
Ophiognathus. Corpus nudum, lubricum, colubriforme, 
compressum, sacco amplo abdominali. 
Caput antice depressum, maxilla superiore (paulo) longiore. 
Dentes, in maxilla inferiore, et ossibus intermaxillaribus, 
subulati, retroflexi. 
