176 ORDER ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



i 'f\ 



PoMACANTHUS, CuV., 



In 'fliich the form is more elevated, a circumstance 

 resulting from the more sudden rise of the edge of the 

 dorsal. The only species known are from America 1 . 



Plat ax. 



A row of trenchant teeth, each divided into three 

 points in front of the other, or brush-like teeth. The 

 body, strongly compressed, seems to be continued into 

 thick, vertical, elevated, and scaly fins, in whose an- 

 terior edge some few spines are concealed, so that the 

 whole fish is much higher than it is long ; very long 

 ventrals. The Indian Ocean 2 . 



One species, Ch. arthriticus, Bell. Phil. Trans. 1793. 

 pi. vi. of a more orbicular form, is remarkable for 

 the knots, or enlargements, in some of its interspinals, 

 and spinous processes 3 . 



Bl. 425, Duham., Sect. IV. pi. xxiii. 5. India species, Chcet. bicolor, 

 Bl., 206. 1. Ch. mesoleucos, Bl., or mesomelas, Gm. Bl. 216. 2. 

 Holac. amicalis, Cuv., Ren. I. xvi. 92. Ch. annularis, Bl. 215. 2. 

 Ch. hnperator, Bl. 194. Ch.fasciatus, Bl. 195. Ch. nicobariensis, 

 Bl. Schn. 50., or Geometricus, Lacep. IV. xiii. 1. Hoi. Lamark, 

 Lacep. iv. 531. Renard I. xxvi. 144, 145. and several new species. 



1 Chcet. aureus, Bl. 193. 1., or Chirivita jaune, Parra vi. 2. Chcet. 

 paru, Bl. 197., or Chirivita no'ir, Parr. vi. 1. Ch. 5-cinctus, Cuv. 

 Guaperva, Marcgr. 178. Ch. arcuatus, L., Bl. 204. 2. 



2 Chcet. vespertilio, Bl. 199. 2. Ch. teira, ib. 1. Ch. guttulatus, 

 Cuv., Ren. II. xxiv. 129. 



3 It is also the Ch. penlacanthe, Lacep. IV. xi. 2., and the Ch. 

 orbicularis, Forsk., or Acanlhinion orbiculairc, Lacep. IV. 500. 



