Mazocraeinea having middle and large sizes. The attaching 

 apparatus consists of a disc weakly delimited from the body, bearing, 

 among the adult forms, one pair of edge hooks, 2 pairs of middle hooks and 

 8 chitinous attaching clamps lying in Z parallel rows along the lateral edges 

 of the disc. As an exception the disc can be asymmetrical and bear a 

 smaller number of clamps. The latter have a characteristic structure, 

 they possess a complex chitinous capsule consisting of 5 separate parts 

 connected with each other in a movable fashion. The anterior end has 

 weakly developed cephalic glands. The eyes are absent among adult 

 animals. The buccal cavity has 2 more or less large suckers. The 

 intestinal tract is two-branched; its branches terminate blindly in the 

 attaching disc or somewhat above it and form nunnerous lateral and interior 

 outgrowths along their extensions. The male sex aperture and the uterus 

 open along the medial side of the body by a common small atrium. The 

 copulatory organ is armed with 2 types of hooks. The testes are numerous 

 or there is only one. The ovary is flask-shaped, strongly elongated, and 

 U-shaped. The vaginal ducts are paired or are absent. 



Parasites of marine and transitory fishes - -Clupeidae and 

 Scombridae. 



Type genus, Mazocraes Hermann, 1782. 



In addition to the type genus, four more genera enter into the 

 composition of the family: Octostoma Kuhn, 1829; Mazocraeoides Price, 

 1936; Neomazocraes Price, 1943; and Pseudoanthocotyle Bychowsky and p. 41J 

 Nagibina, 1954; and possibly the fifth, Grubea Diesing, 1858. 



_ 



The genus Ophicotyle— gen. inq. mentioned in the preceding text (see 

 page 250) is also ascribed to this family; however, we do not consider it 

 possible to include it in the genera of Mazocraeidae even with a question 

 mark. 



For this family, which was quite correctly isolated by Price 

 (Price, 1936) from the formerly accepted diffuse fannily of Octocotylidae 

 Beneden and Hesse, 1863 ^,in the first place the structure of the attaching 



_ 



Into the "fanaily" Octocotylidae enter genera pertaining to Mazocraeidae, 

 and also by present notions to other subsequent families 



which have 8 clamps. To say that Price simply changed the name 



of this family, as is done by Sproston (Sproston, 1946), would not be quite 

 correct, although if the type genus retains its old name, Octocotyle , the 

 family of Mazocraeidae should be called accordingly, according to the rules 

 of nomenclature. The incorrectness of the indication of Sproston is 



500 



