DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIB DISTKIBl I ION. 149 



NKI PASTOW \ MELANTJRUM, Ra] [NESQl I - 



Nettaatoma melanura, Rafinesqi e, Caratteri, 1810,66, pi. xvi, fig. 1.— Kai p, Apodes, 119, fig. 75.— GUni 

 Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., \m, 18.— Challenger Report, \\n, 253.— DOderlein, Att. A... Soc, 1877, 58.— 

 Giglioli, Eleneo, 1880, 17.— Vincigi erra, Ann. Mus. (iv. Genoa, 1883, 585.— Vaullant, Exp. Scient. 



Travailleui it Talisman, l'nissuns, S3, pi. \, tins 2, 2a, 21>. 

 Mum inijiliis saga, Risso, [ehth.,Nice, 1810, fig. 39. 

 Hyoprorus messitii nets, Km i [KER, lu<: <it. — X uixant, op. cil., 95. 



A Nettastoma, with stunt upper jaw. slighth projecting beyond the lower and without 

 prominent cutaneous flap; with mouth cleft not extending behind the vertical from tin- orbit. 

 Teeth strong. Tail three tilths the length of the body. Diameter of the eye three-twen- 

 tieths the length of the head. Pins margined, with black posteriorly. 



This form is found in the western Mediterranean, where it has nol yei been traced to 

 any considerable depth. It doubtless is more common in the deep than in the shallow 

 waters, for its bathybial distribution has been demonstrated in adjoining Atlantic waters. 



Nettastoma brevirostris, Facciol$ (Naturalista Sicihano, vi, L887, ICG, pl.m, flg. 3) is 

 apparently a closely allied form. 



Yaillant believes that he has recognized, in two small individuals of (»."> and 142 milli- 

 meters, respectively, the young of Nettastoma, and probably of this species, and dissents 

 from the views of those ichthyologists who regard the Leptocephalus form — Hyvprorus mes- 

 sinensis — as the young, or transformed, Nettastoma. 



VENEFICA, Jordan and Davis. 

 Fenefica, Jordan and Davis, Rep. U. S. P. C, 1888 (1891), 651. 



Closely allied to Nettastoma, but with snout prolonged in a slender fleshy proboscis, with 

 the anterior nostrils at its base. The type is N. prat rum, Goode and Bean. 



VENEFICA PROCERA, (Goode and Bean), Jordan and Davis. (Figure 168.) 



Nettastoma procerum, Goode and Bean, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., x, 1883, 22-1. — Jordan, Cat. Fish. N. Am. 



1885, 55. — GOnther, Challenger Report, xxn, 253. 

 Fenefica procera, Jordan and Davis, toe. <it. 



A Nettastoma with body very elongate, compressed, tapering to a very slender atten- 

 uate point; its greatest height contained nearly 4 times in the distance from the gill open- 

 ing to the tip of the lower jaw, and equals half the length of the snout. Head slender, 

 conical; jaws somewhat depressed; the upper jaw heavier and thicker, and projecting 

 beyond the lower a distance equal to the diameter of the eye. Length of snout equals the 

 distance from the posterior margin of the orbit to the gill opening; the cleft of the mouth 

 extends behind the eye to a distance equal to the diameter of the orbit. On each side of the 

 upper jaw, and in advance of the eye, are twelve pores; behind each eye are three pores, 

 while on the median line, on the top of the upper .jaw, are several pores posteriorly arranged 

 in pairs, of which there are four, the ultimate pair being between the posterior nostrils. 

 There is also a pair of pores upon the nape, connecting the postorbital rows, and seventeen 

 on each side of the mandible. The mandibulary series is continued by another series 

 extending over the cheeks and nape. The snout is provided with a slender, filamentous tip, 

 whose length is equal to twice the diameter of the eye. The tongue is apparently absent in 

 the specimens examined by us. The teeth are arranged as in N. melanurum, but exceed 

 ingly small, and much less conspicuous than in the figures of Eaup and Risso. 



Dorsal tin commences above the gill opening. 



The anal fin is inserted under the seventy-third dorsal ray at a distance from the snout 

 equal fco3§ times the length of the head. The tail is twice as long as the body, head included. 

 The total length of the specimen is 727 millimeters, including I he nasal tip, which measures 

 7 millimeters. 



Lateral line highly specialized, with numerous pores, corresponding in general charac- 

 ter to those upon the head, and arranged in a deep furrow, fcheir distances apart being about 



