SCLERODERMI. 2G9 



Batistes buniva, Lacep. 1. c. p. 357. 



Batistes lunulatus, Risso, Eur. Merid. iii, p. 175. 



Batistes Bondeletii, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 326. 



Batistes Carolitiensis, Gronov. ed. Gray, p. 29. 



Batistes fuliginosns, De Kay, New York Fauna, Fish, p. 126, pi. lix, figs. 5, 6. 



File-fish, Couch, Fishes Brit. Isles, iv, p. 369, pi. ccxliii. 



B. vi-vii, D. 3/27-28, P. 15, A. 24-26, C. 12, L. 1. 52-62, Vert. 7/11. 



Length of head 4|, of caudal fin 4f, height of body about 2| in the total 

 length. Byes rather high up and situated in the posterior fourth of the head. 

 A groove before the eye. Cleft of mouth shallow. Teeth white, uneven, and 

 more or less notched. Fins anterior spine of the first dorsal fin strong, elevated, 

 equalling the length of the snout and roughened anteriorly, the next two are 

 much shorter. The front portion of the soft dorsal and anal fin rather elevated : 

 ventral spine movable. Caudal lobes most produced in old examples. Scales 

 about 22 scutes in a transverse line from the origin of the second dorsal fin to the 

 vent. Two large osseous patches behind the gill-opening. No spine or tubercles 

 on the side of the tail, but in some specimens a rudimentary lateral-line. Colours 

 the one figured, according to Couch, was as follows : for the most part of a dull 

 pale yellow, dark on the back and top of the head, more dusky towards the tail : 

 pectoral fin with a tinge of yellow, the other fins dark. The colours, however, 

 are liable to vary. 



Hippolyte Salviani (a Roman Physician, born 1513, died 1572) discovered 

 that the spines of the first dorsal fin are so contrived as to act in concert, with 

 considerable force, in suddenly elevating the fin at the pleasure of the animal : 

 though the lai-gest spine be pressed hard it will not move, but if the smallest be 

 pressed slightly the other two immediately fall down with it, as a cross-bow is 

 let off by pulling the trigger (Cocks, Roy. Corn. Pol. Soc, 1870, p. 121). 



Names. File fish due to the roughness of the front surface of its first dorsal 

 spine, and trigger-fish due to the formation of its first dorsal fin. 



Habits. Of these but little is known, but their strong teeth are said to enable 

 them to break off pieces of coral for food, or even to work through the shells of 

 molluscs to obtain their inhabitants. They have been deemed injurious to pearl 

 fisheries. 



As food. Canestrini says it is not used, but Companyo considers it very 

 recherche, and Risso that it is delicate. 



Habitat. Occasional on the British coast, more abundant in the Mediterranean, 

 although even there it is not common. Taken in Orkneys in 1827 or 1828 

 (Baikie, Zool. 1853, p. 3847). The first recorded British example was 9| inches 

 long, from the Sussex coast, taken in August, 1827, and was placed in the British 

 Museum (Yarrell). In August, 1865, one was taken at Port Looe, on the south 

 coast of Cornwall, and came into Couch's possession and which is now in the 

 British Museum. Mr. Cordeaux (Zoologist, 1868, p. 1027) observes upon having 

 seen the drawing of a fish of this species at Flamborough, that had been captured 

 two or three years previously : while another was likewise said to have been taken 

 there in 1868 and sent to Manchester. It has also been captured at Weymouth 

 in 1873 on a line baited with a lob-worm, and " two half-grown skins, Great 

 Britain ? and one half-grown, stuffed, from the collection of the Zoological 

 Society " are in the national collection. 



Ireland. Obtained by Professor Melville at Galway in 1853 (Ball). 



The example figured is 16| inches long, stuffed from Port Looe, in Cornwall, 

 and now in the National Museum.* 



* OsTRACION QUADRICOKNIS, LinVCBUS. 



Couch obtained an example of this fish which he was informed had been captured at Mevagissey 

 at some considerable distance from land, by a man named Barron. Mr. Matthias Dunn distrusting 

 the account investigated the matter and ascertained from Captain Ball, of the " Roseland," that 

 Barron when employed in his ship obtained the specimen at the Island of Ascension and bi'ought it 

 in salt to this country (see Proc. Linn. Soc. 1880). This species has since then been brought from 

 the same locality to this country by Staff-Surgeon J. Conry (An. and Mag. Dec. 1881 (5), xlviii, 

 p. 431). 



