PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 277 



Osti'acions, with triagoual carapace, provided with a iiat, conspicuous 

 spine on eacli abdominal ridge, which i.s itself sharp and prominent. 



Hollard claims that Ostracion trigonus is one of the largest, if not the 

 largest, as was claimed" by Artedi,* of the triangular species, and gives 

 the following measurements of one of the specimens studied by him : 



M. 



Total leugth 0.4C0 



Greatest height 0. 150 



Greatest width (in abclomiual region) 0. 135 



Length of cephalic region 0.180 



Length of tail-stem 0.100 



Caudal 0.060 



Largest diameter of lateral scutes 0.028 



The largest specimen obtained by me in the Bermudas did not exceed 

 350 millimetres in length. 



Linn fens in his Systema Naturw, edition tenth, atti'ibuted to this spe- 

 cies Jburteen dorsal rays, an error which, as Hollard has pointed out, 

 has been copied and recopied by ichthyological writers down to the 

 present day. 



Kaup (1. c.) described the species anew under the name Ostracion 

 oviceps. He appears not to have recognized any of the specimens 

 studied by him as belonging to 0. trigomis, the characters of which 

 were totally misapprehended by him. His description of 0. oviceps cor- 

 responds to the characters of 0. trigonus,^ w^hile the radial formulae, the 

 only characters given by him for 0. trigomis, are imaginary and do not 

 ajiply to any fish known to exist. The formula for the dorsal perpetu- 

 ates the Linntean error already referred to; that for the caudal was prob- 

 ably made out from mutilated specimens. Hollard, who Avorked over 

 the collections in the Paris ]Museum the j^ear subsequent to tlie i^ublica- 

 tion of Kaup's Memoir, states that he found certain specimens of 0. 

 trigomis which had been labeled with the name 0. oviceps by Dr. Kaup, 

 while others precisely like them had been left with the identification 0. 

 trigomis. This signifies little, however, for no good characters have 

 ever been given for the jjroposed new species. 



The color of living individuals of Ostracion trigomis is a uniform brown, 

 with numerous irregularly grouped whitish spots, more abundant on the 

 caudal stem than elsewhere. The fins are lighter than the body. 

 Young specimens have a subcircular blackish blotch upon the side be- 

 hind the gill-opening. 



This species probably breeds in the Bermudas. I obtained three 

 specimens ranging in length from 1 inch to 12 inches, though I was not 

 so fortunate as to secure young of any other species of the genus. 



* "Maximus est ex triangulatis," Artedi, Gen. Pise. p. 57. 



t Profil des Kopfes convex und plotzlich herabsteigend. Der lange Schwauz blau 

 gefleckt Oder einfarbig mit eiuem Hornschild auf dor Wurzel niichst dem Pauzer. 

 Der Riicken hinter den erhohten Augeukreisen begumend- ScliAyanzflosse gegabelt : 

 Triffonus, P. 10, D. 14, A. 9, C. 7. • 

 OviceiJS, P. 12, D. 10, A. 10, C. 10. Kanp, 1- c. 



