TETEAODON SETOSUS. 155 



ON TETRAODON SETOSUS, A NEW SPECIES ALLIED TO 

 TETRAOLON MELEAGRIS LACEP. 



BY ROSA SMITH. 



Length 12 inches (14 inches to margin of caudal fin); 

 depth, inflated, 6 inches. Head 4 (1|); orbit 4 in head. 

 Snout about 3 in head (measuring to front of orbital bone),. 

 the upper profile abruptly concave behind lip. Interorbital 

 space moderate, one and a-half times diameter of orbital 

 bone. The eye itself seems to be drawn backward from its 

 proper place in the orbit and has been stretched out of 

 shape in drying. Orbital ridges not greatly elevated, the 

 interorbitalregion nearly flat. 



Body everywhere thickly beset with short, slender, stiff 

 spines, except around mouth, at bases of fins and around 

 vent; these spines or bristles averaging one-eighth of an 

 inch in height, their insertion in the skin not quite so far 

 apart as their height. The spines are nearly uniform every- 

 where. Some of them show no lateral roots, while many 

 are from two- to five-rooted, giving the skin a stellate ap- 

 pearance. iVbout seventy spines from eye to dorsal fin, but 

 the spines are thickly scattered without being in regular 

 rows. The smooth area about the mouth is two-thirds 

 diameter of orbit. The dorsal and anal peduncles are 

 wholly smooth and the caudal peduncle has spines only at 

 its base, which are recumbent and mostly imbedded in the 

 skin. 



Caudal fin subtruncate, one-half longer than caudal pe- 

 duncle, the base of the fin entering twice in its height. 

 Base of dorsal fin two and a half times in its height; mar- 

 gin unevenly rounded. Base of anal one and three-fourths 

 in height, the fin rounded posteriorly. Pectorals truncate, 

 one-fourth higher than broad. 



