I'LECTOGNA THl. DIODONTIDJE. 



TAB. XIII. 



DIODON RETICULATUS, L. 



Sapo grande. 

 Great Toad-fish. 



Char. Gen. 



■ Corpus physetico-globosum, spinis cuticularibus undique echinatum. Maxillas, dentium vice, osse 

 niido indiviso instructs. Vesica aerea magna, antice biloba. 



Obs. — Pisces regionum calidioram, subtropici, igna\'i, lenti, voraces, vix edules, malae famae, torvi 

 visu. Aere absorpto tument inflati, et supini super aquam inertes vage feruntur. 



Char. Spec. 



D. ovatus, ventricosus, dorso planatus, supeme pinnisque nigro-punctatns : spinis rariusculis, 

 brevissimis, crassis, triquetro-pyramidatis, inconspicuis, hebetatis, vix extantibus ; radicibus tripar- 

 titis, reticulato-intertextis. 



D. 12 ; A. 11 — 13 ; P. 20 v. 21 ; C. ^ + X ; Vertee. 22. 



D. rcticidatitf!, Linn. Syst. Ed. lO"""^. .334. n". 2. — Syn. Fish. Mad. p. 1.93 (omissis synon'. Lac. 

 et Cuv.). 



D. Atinga, (i. Ejusd. Ed. 12™*. I. 413. 



D. tigrinus var. Cuv. Mem. Mus. IV. — R. Anim. ii. 367, note. 



Ostradon siihrotundus ; aculeis undique brevibus triquetris raris. Art. Syn. 86. n". 1,0 ; Gen. .59. 

 no. 16. 



Orliis niuricatus et reticulatus, Will. 1 hr>. t. I. n. 7. opt. ^ 



Longit. = 1 ^ — 2 - — pedalis. 

 Tempus, sestate, autunino. 

 Locus, prope littus : rarior. 



The DiodontidfE or Toad-fishes, " les Gymnodontes'* of Cuvier, 

 consisting chiefly of the genera of Diodon and Tetrodoti, compose a group 

 or family remarkable alike for singularity of aspect, and complexity of 

 structure and relation. Together with the Balistid^ they compose an 

 aberrant order leading from the true fishes towards the Sharks, called 

 by Cuvier Plectognathi : a word* devised to indicate their principal 

 distinctive character ; which consists in the union of the maxillarv with 

 the intermaxillary bones, and in the immoveable articulation by suture of 

 the palatal system with the skull. This order is externally distinguished 



* nxiKToyva^oi, jaws knit together or connected : from vktxros nexus, and yva.§os maxilla. 

 VOL. I. 



