684 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



bonv, stronglj^ keeled; two serrated, knifelike appendages at 

 base of tail; first dorsal of four or five rather high flexible spines, 

 the first one or two spines nearly free from the others; an 

 immoYable spine between the dorsals; anal and second dorsal 

 short, of slender rays; caudal small, lunate; pectoral fins divided 

 to the base into two parts, the anterior portion about as long 

 as the head, of about six rays, closely connected; the posterior 

 and larger portion more than twice length of head, reaching 

 nearly to caudal in the adult, much shorter in the young; these 

 rays very slender, simple, wide apart at tip; ventral rays I, 4, 

 the long fins pointed, their bases close together, the inner rays 

 shortest; air bladder with two lateral parts, each with a large 

 muscle; pyloric caeca numerous; vertebrae 9+13^=^22. Warm 

 seas; the adult able to move in the air like the true flying fish, 

 but for shorter distances. Two species known, one of them 

 (C. s p i n a r e 1 1 a ) East Indian. 



338 Cephalacaiithus volitans (Linnaeus) 



Flying Gurnard; Flying Robin 



Trigia volitans Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. X, I, 302, 1758. 



PoJynemus sexradiatus Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, pi. IV, 



fig. 10, 1815; Am. Month. Mag. II, 323, March, 1818. 

 Dactylopterus voUtans Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. IV, 117. 



1829; De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 49, pi. 17, fig. 46; Gunther, Cat. 



Fish. Brit. Mns. II, 221, 1860. 

 Cephalacanthus volitans Bean, Bull. U. S. F. C. VII, 136, 1888; Bull. Am. 



Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 371, 1897; H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 



106, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. II, 21&3, 



1898; IV, pi. CCCXXIII, fig. 778, 1900. 



Body elongate, subquadrangular, tapering to caudal, its depth 

 about one sixth of total length; profile blunt, the head being 

 quadrangular in shape; mouth rather small, the lower jaw in- 

 cluded; granular teeth in jaws; no teeth on vomer and pala- 

 tines; eye large, its diameter being contained about three and 

 one half times in length of head; bones of top of head, pre- 

 orbitals, and suborbitals, forming a shield, the nuchal part on 

 each side being produced backward in a bony ridge and ending 

 in a strong spine which reaches to the fourth or fifth dorsal 

 spine; another spine extends backward from the preopercle 

 past ventrals; pectorals in adults reaching almost to caudal, 



