652 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.. 
This genus contains two known species, from the depths of the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They differ from Nettastoma only in the 
presence of a fleshy tip to the snout. 
ANALYSIS OF SPECIES OF VENEFICA. 
a. [Tail twice as long as head and trunlc ; body very elongate, compressed, especially 
so posteriorly ; head slender, conical ; upper jaw projecting an eye’s diameter 
beyond the chin ; beyond this a slender, fleshy, proboscis-like tip, whose length 
is twice that of the eye ; snout a little more than 2 in the head ; anal fin begin- 
ning at a distance from the snout, equal to 2f- times the length of the head; tail 
twice as long as rest of body, the head included. Color j dark brownish ; peri- 
toneum black.] (Goode ' <$r Bean.) Procera, 101. 
aa. (Tail a little longer than head and trunk; nasal proboscis a flat, triangular pro- 
jection half the length of snout, resembling the snout of the snake “ Porte-6p6e,” 
Langaha ensifera ; teeth fine, in cardiform bands on jaws and palate ; gill-openings 
near together ; dorsal inserted nearly over the gill-openings ; tail a little more 
than one-half the total length ; head 10 in total length. Color, brown or almost 
black.] (Vaillant.) Proboscidea, 102. 
101. VENEFICA PROCERA. 
Nettastoma procerum Goode & Bean, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., x, 5, 224, 1883 (Atlantic 
Ocean, lat. 33° 35’ to 40° N., long. 76° W. ; depth, 178 to 647 fathoms). 
Gunther, Voy. Challenger, xxii, 253, 1887 (copied). 
Habitat : Depths of the Atlantic^ 
Etymology : Procerus , elongate. 
This species is known from three specimens obtained by the Albatross 
in the Gulf Stream off the coast of North Carolina. 
102. VENEFICA PROBOSCIDEA. 
Nettastoma proboscideum Vaillant, Exp6d. Travailleur et Talisman, 84, 1888 (Morocco). 
Habitat : Deep waters of the Mediterranean. 
Etymology: Latin, having a proboscis. 
The type of this species is from near Morocco. 
Family VI.— NEMICHTHYID^E. 
(The Thread Eels.) 
This family* includes eels with the body attenuate and the jaws very 
slender, needle-like, and more or less recurved at tips. There are no 
scales; the gill-openings are separate or partly confluent; the pectoral 
fins are well developed (in our species, wanting in the East Indian genus 
Gavialiceps ), as well as the dorsal and anal, and the nostrils are near 
together, in front of eye, without tube or flap. 
These eels inhabit the deep seas ; the species are little known and 
the anatomy has never been studied. Judging from external charac- 
ters, their nearest relations are with the Nettastomidce y and possibly 
through them with the Murcenesocidce , but the connection of Nettastoma 
with Murcenesox is very questionable. 
