20 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OE H.M.S. SAMAEANG. 



Parkinson's figure is nearly of the same size with that published in the Ichthyology of 

 the Voyao-e of the Sulphur, which coincides with specimen, and measures four inches and a 

 half in length. Parkinson has made a memorandum under the drawing, stating that " every 

 spot is bordered with a dark line, which turns paler as the ground colour does." The specific 

 name ofpunctatus having been given in Schneider's edition of Bloch to a Brazilian Tetrodon, 

 cannot be retained for Solan der's fish. 



Tetrodon cinctus, which is also figured on the sixty-sixth folio of Parkinson's drawings, 

 has a short head, obtuse snout, and a nearly globular form, when the belly is distended. It is 

 also studded with small round clots on the upper surface, and on the caudal fin, but is 

 characterized by two oblique black bars, which embrace the fore-part of the belly, whence its 

 specific name. The intervals between the bars are light yellow, and there are several bars in 

 outline on the remainder of the belly, but their colours are not specified. I have not found 

 any reference to this species in Solander's Manuscripts. Like the preceding species, it was 

 discovered at Otaheite, or, as Parkinson writes the name of the island, Taitai. Supposing all 

 the bars on the belly to be black, the species will closely resemble the lineatus of the Fauna 

 Japonica. 



TETRODON INSIGNITUS, Richardson. 



Hadii.— D. 9; A. 8; C. 9-J-; F. 16. 



Plate IX. Fig. 1-2. 



This Tetrodon belongs to the thud division of the genus, characterised by a keeled back, 

 and of which only two species are named in the Regne Animal, viz., T. rostratus, Bl. 146, 2, 

 to which T. electricus, Paterson, Phil. Trans, p. 76. pi. 3, is referred ; and T. Gronovii, Cuv. 

 Our fish resembles T. grammatocephalus of the Fauna Japonica (pi. cxxvi. f. 3.) so much, 

 that I have great doubt as to its being really distinct ; but M. Schlegel's figure does not 

 show the striking ocellated mark at the base of the dorsal, nor the stripes on the back, and 

 spots on the sides, and as the letter-press referring to this plate has not yet reached us, we 

 do not know the condition of the specimen, or whether the colours had perished or not. T. 

 ocellatus of Bennett, (Fishes of Ceylon, pi. 21,) has some resemblance to insignitus, but the 

 eyed spot surrounds the base of the dorsal in the same way as it does in the ocellatus of Bl. 

 p. 145, and the dorsal bands and streaks do not correspond with those of our fish. Nothing 

 is said, in Mr. Bennett's text, of spines, nor are any represented in his figure. 



In insignitus the belly and back are studded with minute spines, which roughen also the 

 top, and entire sides of the head. There is a narrow ring of smooth integument round the 

 base of the lips, the eyes, and gill-openings. The spines of the belly rise as high as the under 

 ray of the pectoral, and backwards to the anus, while those of the back extend to the dorsal, 

 and as low as the level of the centre of the eye. The axilla of the pectoral, the sides, and tail, 

 are smooth, including the bases of the dorsal and anal fins. 



