CLASS PISCES. 147 



of scorpaena, but the body is without scales, and there 

 are two free rays under the pectoral fin, the head is 

 crushed in part, the eyes near each other, the dorsal 

 spines very high, and nearly free ; they have not the 

 suborbital spines of apistes. Their strange shape 

 and monstrous appearance distinguish them from all 

 other fish. They come from the Indian Seas *. 



Synanceia, BL, Schn., 



Are not less monstrous than the last, their head is 

 rough, tubercular, not compressed, often enveloped 

 in a loose and fungous skin ; their pectoral rays are 

 all branched ; their dorsals not divided, and they have 

 no teeth either on the vomer or the palatine bones ; 

 their frightful ugliness has caused them to be consi- 

 dered venomous by the fishers of the Indian Seas where 

 they are found 2 . 



Lepisacanthes, Lacep. Monocentris, Bl., Schn., 



Form a singular genus, with a short and thick body 

 entirely covered with enormous angular shields, rough 

 and carinated. Four or five thick spines stand in the 

 place of the first dorsal fin, and the ventrals are com- 

 posed each of an enormous spine, in the angle of 



1 Pel. obscarum, Cuv., or Scorpcena didactyla, Pal. Spic. Zool. 

 vii. 26. 4. Sab. iii. 28. 3. or Trigla rubicunda, Hornstedt Mem. de 

 Stock, ix. 3. ; and some new species described in our fourth volume. 



2 Scorpczna horrida, Lin. Lacep. ii. 17. 2. and again, but not so 

 good, Bl. 83 ; Sc. brachion, Lacep. iii. 12. 1. or Synanceia verrucosa, 

 Bl. Schn. 45 ; Syn. bicapillata, Lacep. ii. 11. 3. 



L 2 



