308 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL V, October, 1951 
genera (22) on completely insufficient, almost 
whimsical, bases. As all of Kaup’s types, so 
far as I know, have never been re-examined, 
many of his generic and specific names remain 
unidentifiable. Bleeker (1865), in a brief 
paper reviewing the classification of all eel 
groups, recognized 8 genera of Ophichthinae. 
Gunther (1870) further reduced the genera of 
the subfamily to 2, but recent workers have 
recognized many more. 
Since Gunther, the Ophichthinae has 
been investigated only piecemeal. Storey 
(1939) has redescribed the types of most of 
the species belonging to the genera Calle- 
chelys and Bascanichthys, but no other generic 
revisions have been attempted recently. On 
the other hand, the Ophichthinae of various 
parts of the world have been dealt with in 
faunistic reports. Most notable of these are 
probably those of Bleeker (1864) and Weber 
and de Beaufort (1916) for the Indo-Austral- 
ian Archipelago and of Jordan and Davis 
(1892) for America and Europe. 
Genera and species of Ophichthinae con- 
tinue to be described almost every year — 
some well, many badly. The system of classi- 
fication within the group — never adequate — 
is consequently now outdated and chaotic. 
The Ophichthinae are found everywhere 
along the shores of tropical seas. In addition, 
some of them have been picked up at the 
surface of the ocean far from land; at least 
one, Caecula cephalopeltis, occurs in fresh water; 
and one, Pisoodonophis boro^ is a pest in rice 
fields (Ramakrishna Ayyar, 1932). Most of 
the members are moderate to small wormlike 
forms, though several are large and have fang- 
like teeth. Most of the group seem to burrow 
in the sand with their tails. Some of these, 
e. g., Callechelys luteus in Hawaii, usually re- 
main with the head and a small part of the 
body above the surface of the sand, while 
others, e. g., Sphagehranchus platyrhyncha in 
Hawaii, seem to live an almost completely 
subterranean existence, burrowing forward 
or backward through the sand with great ease 
and speed. 
The account that follows deals with the 9 
genera and 13 species of ophichthids known ; 
from the Hawaiian Islands, including John- 
ston Island. Specimens of all the species are ! 
either represented in the University of Hawaii i 
Collection or have been examined in the 
Bishop Museum. Those represented in the 
University’s collection have been illustrated. , 
In the synonymies all Hawaiian records are j 
listed, but those from elsewhere, except for i 
the type, are not. j 
Certain principal taxonomic characters of I 
the Hawaiian ophichthids are summarized in |j 
Table 2. |i 
li 
ARTIFICIAL KEY TO THE HAWAIIAN SPECIES !i 
OF OPHICHTHIDAE ;| 
la. A fin with fin rays present, but reduced, around tip !; 
of tail. Species less than 18 inches in length; in Ha- ; 
waiian forms dorsal originating nearer anus than f 
gill openings, and pectoral fins absent. (Subfamily j! 
Myrophinae.) Ii 
2a. Dorsal commencing over a head length (meas- 
ured to gill opening) behind anus; body com- i 
pressed, its depth about IVi times its width; 
teeth lacking on intermaxillary (or premaxillary) 
and vomer (see Fig. I2a). 
1. Muraenichthys {Schultzidia) johnstonensis 
2b. Dorsal commencing within a head length of the 
anus; body nearly cylindrical; teeth present on 
intermaxillary and vomer. 
3a. Dorsal commencing behind anus; cleft of ! 
mouth reaching well behind eye; vomerine 
teeth in 2 or 3 rows. 
2. Muraenichthys {Muraenichthys') schultzei 
3b. Dorsal origin over or ahead of anus; cleft of ' 
mouth reaching almost to posterior border of 
eye; vomerine teeth in a single, sometimes ir- 
regular, row (see Fig. 12^). 
3. Muraenichthys {Muraenichthys) cookei 
lb. Tip of tail a hard, fleshy point, without fin. (Sub- ! 
family Ophichthinae.) 
4a. Body without traces of fins anywhere. 
5a. Snout more or less elliptical in cross sec- 
tion, without lateral ridges; head (meas- 
ured to gill opening) contained 15 to 20 
times in the extremely elongate body; 
posterior nostril opening on outside of 
upper lip (Fig. lAa). | 
4. Caecula {Sphagehranchus) flavicauda | 
5b. Snout with well-developed lateral ridges, | 
forming a flattened triangle in cross sec- 
tion; head contained about 10 times in 'j 
body length; posterior nostril opening on 
inside of upper lip, the opening not j 
visible externally. 
5. Caecula {Sphagehranchus) platyrhyncha 
