56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.99 



On page 264, last two lines of large type 7 or 8 should be transposed 

 with 8 or 9. 



I overlooked three species described as new by Valenciennes in 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle de Poissons, volume 19, 

 1846, until it was too late to enter them in my report. The following 

 should be referred to the synonymy of Hoplias malaharicus (Bloch): 

 Macrodon tareira, p. 508, from Lago de Maracaibo; Macrodon teres, 

 p. 521, from Lago de Maracaibo; and Macrodon guavina, p. 527, 

 from Laguna de Tacarigua, Valley of the Rio Aragua. 



Enrico Tortonese (1942, p. 75, pi. 2, fig. 3) reports Hemihrycon 

 dariensis Meek and Hildebrand from Rio del Paso Real, Puerto 

 Cabello, Venezuela. Since his description and figure agree fairly 

 well with specimens from the Rio Tuy and Rio Gudrico systems, I 

 refer the identification made by Tortonese to Hemihrycon dentatus 

 metae Myers, keyed out in my characinid paper on p. 363. 



Suborder Gymnotoidea: Feces Cuchillo 



Body elongate, usually compressed, eellike; with or without scales; 

 head naked; dorsal fin lacking or represented by a fleshy filament 

 mostly attached along back posteriorly; pelvics absent; anal fin very 

 long; pectoral fins short, rounded; caudal fin absent or very small, 

 the tan tapering to a point in species lacldng the caudal fin; mouth 

 with or without teeth; premaxillary and maxillaries forming upper 

 jaws; anus always in front of middle of pectorals, usually under middle 

 of head; shoulder girdle suspended from skull; symplectic bone present; 

 air bladder in two parts connected by a tube; stomach with bhnd sac 

 and pyloric caeca (after Ellis) . 



Since publishing my description of Hypopomus beebei in Zoologica, 

 1944, and placing it in the family Gymnotidae, I have concluded that 

 it may be advantageous to break this group up into at least three 

 families as recognized in the following key: 



KEY TO THE GENERA REPORTED FROM VENEZUELA » 



la. Lower jaw not prolonged or longer than upper jaw; a large frontal and 

 parietal fontanel along middorsal line of head; head not depressed; teeth if 

 present villiform or minute; electric organs absent (family Sternarchidae). 

 2a. Caudal fin absent; the tail behind anal fin slender and tapering to a point; 

 dorsal filament absent. 

 3o. Snout not tubular, but short or moderately elongate. 

 4a. Orbital margin free; both jaws with villiform teeth. 



Stemopygus MiiUer and Troschel 

 45. Orbital margin not free. 



5a. A cylindrical filament in a pair of grooves on under side of head in 

 mental region; snout short, head chubbj^; teeth absent. 



Steatogenys Boulenger 



»* See table 7 for anal-ray counts. 



