PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 631 



mouth finely mottled with light olive brown ; many irregular blackish 

 areas on head and body, those on lower side of head showing a tendency 

 to form concentric bars ; some on sides forming irregular bars down- 

 wards from back ; posterior portion of body not darker than the anterior 5 

 terminal parts of all the fins largely blackish, but with distinct black 

 bars ; some scattered round blackish blotches on sides, each consisting 

 of a number of smaller black spots on an olive ground. Head and 

 body with numerous pinkish and rose-red spots and bars, the latter sinu- 

 ous, irregular, with wavy margins ; a pinkish bar behind maxillary ; a 

 broad, saddle-like pinkish blotch across interval between second and 

 third dorsal spines; a third bar from in front of origin of second dorsal 

 downwards towards base of pectorals ; a fourth across top of caudal 

 peduncle. First dorsal spine narrowly barred with brown. 



92. Balistes capistratus Shaw. 



(Shaw Genl. Zool. V, pt. 2, 417, 1804 (based on Balistebride'La C6iwde = Balistes 

 mitis Beniiett= Balistes f7-enatus Eichardson.) 



93. Balistes polylepis Steind. 



94. Tetrodon angusticeps Jenyns. 



(Canthogaster lohatus Steiud., Icbthyol. Not. X, 18.) 



This species is represented in the collection by two fine specimens 

 from Panama, each about one foot long. They agree perfectly with Dr. 

 Steindachner's Altata specimen (type of C. lobatus), but the nostrils are 

 formed as in typical species of Tetrodon, i. e., tubular, with two lateral 

 openings near the summit. 



Jenyns' description of T. angusticeps, from the Galapagos Islands, 

 was evidently drawn from a specimen in poor condition. This would 

 account for the alleged absence of prickles on the skin. In all other 

 respects the description agrees with the specimens before us — the nar- 

 row, channel -like interorbital sj^ace, the minute paijilliform protuber- 

 ances on the skin, and the pair of fleshy flaps behind the nape being 

 conspicuous features of the species. 



95. Tetrodon politiis Ayrea. 



96. Arothron erethizon, sp. nov. (29679). 



Body all, except snout and caudal peduncle, thickly beset with long, 

 robust, quill-like spines, which are longest and most numerous on the 

 belly ; these spines are concealed by the outer skin until the animal 

 is inflated, in which case they j^rotrude ; under a microscope the skin is 

 seen to be provided with innumerable minute protuberances, much as 

 in Tetrodon angusticeps. 



Snout short, cuboid, its length 1^ times orbit; the upper profile slightly 

 concave, interorbital space wide, slightly less than twice diameter of 

 eye, strongly concave because of the elevated orbital ridges. Nostril 

 tentacle bifid to the base, the divisions compressed, flap-like, without 

 conspicuous openings; the inner surface of each division is thickly 



