REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 139 



Bedford (Luce, 1883), Woods Hole (Smith, 1898). Occasional on 

 Long Island shore (De Kay, 1842; Bean, 1903). 

 Season in R. I.: Somewhat rare, but generally a few are taken each year. 

 One specimen, taken in a trap in the West Passage, Narragansett Bay, 

 August 1, 1905, and another October 9, 1905, with tautog, near the 

 north end of Conanicut Island. Specimen from Newport in the U. S. 

 National Museum (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 77). This species 

 is reported by Smith (1898) to be more rare at Woods Hole than the 

 related species B. vetula (the Bluestriped Trigger-fish), but the latter 

 species has never been reported from Rhode Island waters, while 

 B. carolinensis is taken occasionally each year. 



Reproduction: Supposed to spawn in deep water. 



Food: Molluscs, Crustacea. The specimen 17 inches long, referred to 

 above, had two squids in its stomach. 



Size: One foot to eighteen inches. 



146. Balistes forcipatus (Gmelin) . Powell's Filefish. 



Geog. Dist.: Africa. Occasionally straying to American coasts. 



This species has been identified with Balistes powelli (Jordan and Ever- 



mann. Fishes of North America, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1898, p. 1702). 



Only one specimen has ever been recorded from northern waters; 



this was a young individual taken in September, 1867, at Newport, by 



Samuel Powell and described by Cope. (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Pliila., 



1870, 120.) 



MONACANTHID^. The Filefishes. 



147. Monacanthus hi.spidus (Linngeus). Foolfish; Filefish. 



Geog. Dist.: Lynn, Massachusetts, to Cuba, through the West Indies to 

 Brazil. In Massachusetts this species is recorded from several places 

 along the coast north to Lynn (Kendall, 1908), in Connecticut, reported 

 from Stonington (Linsley, 1844). Rather common on the Long Island 

 shore (Bean, 1903). 

 Season in R. L: A few specimens taken from Rhode Island waters, the 

 maximum size being five or six inches A specimen from Newport in 

 the U. S. National Museum. (Proc, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 76.) 



Reproduction: Ryder obtained ripe eggs of this species from females 

 captured in pound nets near Cherrystone, Virginia, about the middle 

 of July, 1880. The eggs are quite small and measure 1-36 inch (.7 mm.) 

 in diameter. They are very adhesive and adhere to foreign objects; 

 pale green in color, and have a number of small oil globules. (Ryder, 

 Report, U. S. Fish Com., XIII, 1885, 511.) 



