572 ORDER PLECTOGNATHI. 



hard and rhomboidal, and which, not encroaching 

 one upon the other, have the appearance of compart- 

 ments of the skin. Their first dorsal has three 

 prickles or spines, the first of which is by much the 

 largest, the third is very small, and placed apart, 

 farther back. The extremity of their pelvis is always 

 salient and prickly, and behind it are some spines 

 engaged in the skin, which in the long species have 

 been considered as rays of the ventrals. 



Some have no particular armature to the tail, and 

 among them are some which have not behind the 

 gills any scales larger than the others. Such is a 

 species which we possess in the Mediterranean. 



Batistes capriscus, L., Salvian, 207, and Will. I. 19. 

 Pourc, pesce balestra, &c. Of a brownish grey, 

 spotted with blue, or greenish. Its flesh is but little 

 esteemed '. 



Others, with this tail not armed, have some larger 

 scales behind the gills 2 . 



1 N.B. I suspect the B. maculatus, Bl. 151. to be only the Capris- 

 cus. I am even tempted to refer to the same, the B. buniva, Lacep. 

 V. xxi. 1. Add Bal. stellaris, Schn., Lacep. I. vi. Bal. svffiamen, 

 Mitch, vi. 2. Bal. jellaka, Cuv. , Lamayellaka, Russel, I. 22. 



2 Bal. forcipalus Will. I. 22. Bal. vetula, BL, 150. Bal. punc- 

 tatus, Gm., Will. App. 9. f. 4. We might also distinguish the Bal. 

 noir, Lacep. I. xv. remarkable for its superior lateral teeth being 

 prolonged like canines, and the large forks of its tail. N.B. The B. 

 niger, Schn., does not differ from the ringens ; Bal. j'uscus, Schn., 

 or B. grandes tdches, Lacep. I. 373, remarkable for its cheeks being 

 naked, and furnished with ranges of tubercles. 



