CLASS PISCES. 569 



Orthagoriscus, Schn. Cephalus, Sh., (Vulg. Sun-Jish, 



Moon-fish.) 



Which have the jaws undivided, like the- diodons, but 

 whose body, compressed, and without spines, is not 

 susceptible of inflation, and whose tail is so short, and 

 so high vertically, that they have the appearance of 

 fishes from which the posterior part has been cut 

 away, which gives them a very extraordinary figure, 

 and one very sufficient for the purpose of their dis- 

 tinction. Their dorsal and anal, each high and 

 pointed, are united to the caudal. They want the 

 natatory bladder ; their stomach is small, and imme- 

 diately receives the biliary canal. Under their skin 

 is a thick stratum of gelatinous substance. 



In our seas a species is found sometimes more than 

 four feet long, and weighing more than three hundred 

 pounds. The skin is very rough, and of a fine silvery 

 colour, Tetraodon mo la, L., Bl. 128 \ 



Tetr. electricus, Paters. Phil. Trans, vol. lxxvi.pl. iii.is at least very 

 closely allied. T. Gronovii. 



1 Add Orth. oblongus, Schn. 97. Orth. varius, Lacep. I. xxii. 2. 

 Orth. hispidus, Nov. Comm. Petrop. X. viii. 2 and 3. 



N.B. The Ovo'ide fasce, Lacep. I. xxiv. 2. Ovum Commersonii, 

 Schn. 108, has been described and represented by Commerson after 

 a stuffed individual, which he himself suspected to be a mutilated 

 Tetraodon, and which, in fact, is only a Tetraodon lineatus which has 

 lost its fins. 



The Sphero'ide tubercule has been given, as we have said, after a 

 drawing of Plumier, which only represents a Tetraodon in a face view, 

 and the vertical fins of which cannot be seen, Conf. Schn. index lvii. 



Thus these two genera should be suppressed. 



