139 



ARMED MONOCENTRIS. 



Monocentris comutus^ Schneider. 



PLATE XIV. 



In this singularly formed fish, of, so far as we 

 know, very harmless habits, we have a form of no 

 elegance, and an exterior covered with very strong 

 and rough plates, besides an array of blunt spines 

 from the upper and under surface, which would 

 render it an unsatisfactory mouthful even to the 

 most voracious. It is a native of the Japanese seas, 

 but appears far from being common ; and we know 

 little of its economy, by which to judge what its 

 strange covering is particularly intended for. The 

 spines, which M. Cuvier and Valenciennes describe, 

 are only about ten inches in length, which agree 

 nearly in size with those previously described by 

 Thunberg. 



In another tribe of fishes, the plates, as we have 

 already observed, were placed with the utmost 

 regularity. The 



