PLECTOGNATHI. 



275 



MONOCANTHUS, CuV. 



Very small scales, covered with stiff and thickly set asperities, 

 like the pile on velvet; extremity of the pelvis salient and spinous as 

 in the true Balistesj a single large serrated spine in the first dorsal, 

 or at least the second one is almost imperceptible. 



In some of them the pelvic bone is very movable and is connected 

 with the abdomen by a sort of extensible dewlap; strong spines are 

 frequently observed on the sides of their tail.(l) 



Others are distinguished by the sides of their tail being bristled 

 with stiff setae.(2) 



Some, because their body is completely covered with small pedi- 

 culated tubercles. (3) 



Others again, because that same part is furnished with slender 

 and frequently branched cilia.(4) 



A fifth kind have none of these various characters. (5) 



Aluteres, Cuv. 



An elongated body covered with small and scarcely visible granu- 

 les; a single spine is the first dorsal; the chief character is in the 



Species with six or seven rows. Bal. armi, Lacep,, XVIII, 2. N.B. It is nei- 

 ther the armatus of Schn., nor, as he supposes, his chrysopterus; Bal. ringens, 

 Bl., 152,2, ovniger, Schn., or sillonne, Lacep., I, xviii, 1. 



Species with twelve or fifteen rows. Bal. bursa, Schn.; B. bourse, Lacep., Ill, 

 7, Renard, I, 7, and Sonnerat, Journ. de Phys., 1774. 



Species in which the spines are not very sensible, and are reduced to small 

 tubercles. Bal. bride, Lacep. I, xv, 3; Bal. etoile, Lacep., I, xv, 1, or B. stellaris, 

 Schn., or Dondrum yellakah, Russel, XXIII. 



N.B. If the Baiistapus of Tilesius, Mem. Acad. Petersb., VIl, ix, actually 

 want the pelvis, it will form a subgenus immediately after the true Balistes. 



(1) Balistes chinensis, BL, 152, 1; Bal. iomentosus. Id., 148, which is not that 

 of Linnaus, but the Pira aca, Marcgr., 154; Bal. japonicus. Tiles. Mem. Soc. 

 Moscow, vol. II, pi. 13; Bal. pelleon, Quoy and Gaym., Zool. de Freycin., pi. 

 45, f. 3; Bal. geographicus, Per., Cuv., Regn. Animal, pi. ix, f 2. 



(2) Bal. tomentosus, L., Seb., Ill, xxiv, f. 18, Gronov., Mus., VI, f 5; B. a 

 brasses, Bal.scopus, Commers., Lacep., I, xviii, 3, agreeing with the description 

 given by Linnsus of the hispidus, but neither with the character nor figure quo- 

 ted by Seba. 



(3j Bal. papillosus, Schn., White, p. 254. 



(4) Bal. penicilligcrus, Peron., Cuv., Regne Animal, pl. ix, f. 3; Bal. villosus, 

 Ehrenb. 



(5) Bal. hispidus, L., Seb., Ill, xxxlv, 2; Bal. longirosiris, Schn., Seb., Ill, 

 xxiv, 19; Bal. papillosus, L. ? Lacep., I, xvii, 3, under the name of monoceros, 

 Clus., Exot., lib., VI, cap. xxviii; Bal. villosus, Cuv.; Bal. guttatus. Id. 



