140 
SURPENTIFORM ApODAliS.- 
-FISHES.- 
-Mur^noids. 
the whole erectiou, the Eels, which always follow the 
edge of the stream, and are attracted by the verdure, 
crowd along the hurdle-palisade in vast numbers, enter 
between the willow-hedges, and are by them guided 
into the box-traps that are often filled in a single tide. 
These Eels, Charlevoix says, are larger than the Euro- 
pean ones, are very oily, and whatever he the care 
bestowed in cooking them, always retain a wild flavour. 
They are supposed, he informs us, to descend from 
Lake Ontario, and to return thither again because of 
the persecution they encounter from the White Por- 
poises when they reach the tide-way. The descent 
of Eels to estuaries for the purpose of spawning was 
unknown to Charlevoix. 
Family III. — MUR.iENOIDS {Muroenccdos). 
Plate 1, fig 4. 
This family, like the preceding one, belongs to that 
division of the Serpentiform Apodals in which the pos 
Fig. 35 
terior nasal orifices are exterior to the lips, and are 
exposed to view. In its members also the gill-openings 
are lateral, one on each side, with a considerable inter- 
mediate space below ; their smooth and slippery skin 
is destitute of scales, and their haunts are almost exclu- 
sively marine. They are abrachial as well as apodal, 
and some forms, being also destitute of vertical fins, 
are wholly ajAerous (finless). 
The dentition varies with the genus. The genera are — 
MurcBna ; Sidera ; Enchelynassa ; Eurymyctera ; Enchelycore 
Tkyrsoidea ; Limamuraina ; Polyurunodon ; Channomurmna 
Muranoblenna ; Pcecilophis; Gymnomurcena ; Apkihalmichthys 
Ur<^terygius ; Apterichthys ; Primnothonus ; and Moringua 
for an account of which the student is referred to Dr. Kaup’s 
Catalogue. 
No special fishery has been established, as far as we 
know, for the capture of the numerous fish of this 
family, commonly called Mumes ; and we know little 
of their habits beyond their being bold and voracious 
animals. One called Pipiro by the natives is men- 
The Pipiro (Pcecilophis variegata). 
tinned in the narrative of Cook’s third voyage as inhab- 
iting the reefs of Palmerston Island, and instead of 
shunning its pursuers, coming fiercely towards them, 
raising its head out of the water and attempting to 
bite. 
A Murry, which is not uncommon on both sides of the 
Atlantic, as well as in the Australian seas, occasionally 
appears off the coast of Cornwall, and is abundant in 
the Mediterranean ; it bears the scientific appellation of 
Murmna Jielena. During the Empire the Romans, taking 
advantage of its abilitj^ to live in fresh water, kept this 
fish in stews; and Pliny relates in his “Natural History” 
that Vedius Pollio, a Roman knight, one of the intimate 
friends of Augustus Caasar, proved the fierceness of 
these fish by throwing condemned slaves into his fish- 
ponds to be devoured by them ; not, says Pliny, that 
he lacked wild animals wherewith to feed his fish, but 
because he was of too tender a nature to behold an 
entire man torn to pieces in any other way ! ! Cains 
Hirrcus, who kept stews for Murries, presented the 
public with six thousand of these fish when Caesar 
triumphed as dictator. Licinius Crassus trained his 
Murries to be obedient to his voice ; Hortensius Orator 
is said to have formed so strong an attachment to a 
Murry that he wept when it died ; and Antonins 
Drusus adorned one that he loved with earrings. The 
Murries brought from Tartessus, which were much 
esteemed by the Romans, were also of the species 
named Murcena helena, which still abounds at Cadiz 
and the Straits of Gibraltar. Brydone says that the 
Murries of the Faro di Messina were the finest fish he 
ever ate, so that it was probably merely the greater 
cost of those which were obtained beyond the Pillars 
of Hercules that gave them so much favour in the eyes 
of the Romans. Pliny attributes to the Mursena the 
habit of leaving its ponds and travelling overland, 
which the common eel is known also to do. Gym- 
nomurcEna is entirely destitute of fins, and in Aphthal- 
michthys the only vestiges of a fin are a few soft rays 
at the tip of the tail. Apterichthys ccecus has merel}' 
rudimentary eye-balls covered with skin, and cannot 
possess distinct vision. 
