610 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



spots separated by olive green reticulations, the spots arranged 

 in rows; blue markings all fading in alcohol, leaving the oliva- 

 ceous streaks; base of dorsal with three or four dark diffuse 

 shades in the young; base of pectoral bluish, with olive spots ^ 

 anal colored like soft dorsal; pectoral greenish. 



The triggerfish inhabits the tropical parts of the Atlantic 

 occasionally following the Gulf Stream northward as far as 

 Cape Cod. In the Colonial Museum at Halifax is a specimen 

 said to have been taken on the coast of Nova Scotia. At Woods 

 Hole Mass, it is very rare and does not occur every year; the 

 young have not been observed there. 



The species is uncommon in Gravesend bay, Long Island, but is 

 seen occasionally in summer in the bays opening into the Atlan- 

 tic. De Kay described a specimen measuring 12^ inches. In 

 the year 1820, a specimen was obtained for him from New York 



harbor. 



Subgenus BAL.ISTES 



295 Balistes vetula Linnaeus 

 Blue-striped Triggerftsh; Bessy Corka 



Balistes vetula LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. X, I, 329, 1758, Ascension Island; 

 GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 215, 1870; JORDAN & GILBERT, 

 Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 855, 1883; H. M. SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. 

 1897, 103, 1898; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1703, 

 1898. 



Body shaped as in B. carolinensis, its greatest depth 

 five ninths of total length without caudal. Head one third of 

 total length without caudal. Lateral line placed as in B. c a r o - 

 1 i n e n s i s , but the median part, from base of first dorsal to 

 front of caudal peduncle wanting in the adul ( , branch on cheek 

 ceasing opposite gill opening; cross branch present; ventral flap 

 well developed, with slender, sharp spines. Scales on head 

 much smaller and more crowded than those on body. Third dor- 

 eal spine rather shorter and w r eaker than second, remote from 

 it. Caudal fin widely forked, the lobes filamentous and about 

 equal. Dorsal in adult filamentous at tip. Anal little elevated 

 anteriorly. D. Ill, 29; A. 27; lateral line 63. 



Two curved, bluish, dark-edged bands on the side of the head, 

 the lower from the angle of the mouth towards the throat, the 



