610 ■ NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



spots separated by olive green reticulations, the spots arranged 

 in rows; blue markings all fading in alcoHol, leaving the oliva- 

 ceous streaks; base of dorsal with three or four dark diffuse 

 shades in the young; base of pectoral bluish, with olive spots;, 

 anal colored like soft dorsal; pectoral greenish. 



The triggerfish inhabits the tropical parts of the Atlantic 

 occasionally following the Gulf Stream northward as far as 

 Cape Cod. In the Colonial Museum at Halifax is a specimen 

 said to have been taken on the coast of Nova Scotia. At T^'oods 

 Hole Mass. it is very rare and does not occur every year; the 

 young have not been observed there. 



The species is uncommon in Gravesend bay, Long Island, but i» 

 seen occasionally in summer in the bays opening into the Atlan- 

 tic. De Kay described a specimen measuring 12^ inches. In 

 the year 1820, a specimen was obtained for him from New York 



harbor. 



Subgenus balistes 



295 Balistes vetula Linnaeus 



Blue-striped Triggerfish; Bessy Corka 



Balistes vetiila Linnakits, Syst. Nat. ed. X, I, 329, 1758, Ascension Island; 

 GuNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 215, 1870; Jorda:!^ & Gilbert, 

 Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 855, 1883; H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. 

 1897, 103, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1703, 

 1898. 



Body shaped as in B. c a r o 1 i n e n s i s , its greatest depth 

 five ninths of total length without caudal. Head one third of 

 total length without caudal. Lateral line placed as in B. c a r o - 

 1 i n e n s i s , but the median part, from base of first dorsal to 

 front of caudal peduncle wanting in the adult, branch on cheek 

 ceasing opposite gill opening; cross branch present; ventral flap 

 well developed, with slender, sharp spines. Scales on head 

 much smaller and more crowded than those on body. Third dor- 

 sal spine rather shorter and weaker than second, remote from 

 it. Caudal fin widely forked, the lobes filamentous and about 

 equal. Dorsal in adult filamentous at tip. Anal little elevated 

 anteriorly. D. Ill, 29; A. 27; lateral line 63. 



Two curved, bluish, dark-edged bands on the side of the head, 

 the lower from the angle of the mouth towards the throat, the 



