CATALOGUE OF VERTEBRATES. 765 



body and head covered with bony tubercles and spines ; spinous dorsal 

 reduced to a small retractile tentacle on head ; angle in pectorals near 

 base ; brauchiostegals five. 



MALTHB, Cuv. 



(Lophius, L.) 



M. vespertilio, L. Batfish. 



Pale grayish brown above, reddish below ; forehead produced 

 into a conical process. Dorsal rays, 4 ; anal rays, 4 ; length, 6 

 inches. Chiefly southern. (M. cubifrons, associated with this, 

 differs in having a shorter snout and heavier tail.) 



" Occasional specimens are no doubt to be met with in our 

 waters, but they have escaped the writer's detection." [C. C. A.] 



ORDER PLECTOGNATHI. 



Scapula attached to cranium by a post-temporal ; premaxillaries 

 usually united to maxillaries ; interoperculum a slender rod ; skeleton 

 weakly ossified ; vertebrae few ; ventrals rudimentary. 



Family OSTRACIIDJE. 



Trunkfishes. 



Body angular, covered by a carapace of firmly-united, six-sided 

 plates ; the tail, jaws and fins free, and covered by naked skin ; 

 mouth small, with long, narrow teeth ; gill opening a slit behind eye ; 

 no ribs ; anterior vertebrae long, posterior very short. 



OSTRAOIUM, L. 



(Ostracion. Artedi.) 



O. quadricorne, L. Ccwfish. Cuckold. Trunkfish. 



Brown, yellow, blue or green, with irregular blue blotches ; 

 carapace trigonal ; adults with a broad, low ridge on each side 

 of back ; ventral surface flat ; a stout spine over each eye ; cara- 

 pace closed behind dorsal fin and anal. Common in southern 

 waters of Atlantic. Probably referred to in following : 



