1702 BiilleHn4.7^ United States National Mtiseum. 



Balistes cajmnus, Valenciennes, Ichth. lies Canaries, 94, pi. 16, 1836, Canaries. 

 £alistes fuliginostiti, De Kay, N. T. Fauna: Pishes, 339, pi. 57, tig. 188, 1842, New York. 

 Baliitet tceniopterus, Toby, Memorias, ii, 326, 1861, Havana ; adult. 



2117. BALISTES FOBOIPATCS, Gmelin. 



Head 3; depth 2i in adult. D. Ill, 26 to 28; A. 25 to 27; scales 60; eye 

 44 iu head; snout 3*. General form of Balistes capriscus. First dorsal 

 spine stout, rough anteriorly; third spine small, inserted well behind 

 second; soft dorsal with the third, fourth, and hfth rays much elevated, 

 considerably longer than head, iu males at least; anal rounded, its ante- 

 rior rays not elevated; caudal double concave, its upper rays produced 

 in a short acute lobe. Four scapular plates — 2 large, 2 small. Golden 

 brown above, yellowish below; sides of head with many greenish-blue 

 spots, oblong in form; a streak of similar color across snout; sides of body 

 with blue-black spots larger than those on head ; larger on lower parts 

 but most distinct on back ; most of these with a pale ring or ocellus ; soft 

 dorsal with similar spots, smaller and more ocellate ; anal with smaller 

 spots closer together; caudal unspotted; base of i)ectoral blotched with 

 black. Lateral line evident. (Steindachner.) West coast of Africa and 

 the neighboring islands, apparently straying to America, if Balistes mori- 

 bundus and Balistes powelli are the same, as seems probable, (foixipatus, 

 having forceps, from the form of the tail.) 



S!ti2)visch, Willughby, Hist. Pise, Appendix, 7, pi. 9, f. 4, 1686, High Seas, near St. 



Vincent. 

 Ouapcrva lata forcipata, Lister, in Willughby, Hist. Pise, Appendix, 21, pi. 1, 22, 1686, 



Brazil. 

 Balistes forcipatvs, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, 1472, 1788, Brazil; after Guaperva lata of 



LISTER; GUNTHER, Cat., viii, 216, 1870. 

 Balistes punctatru, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, 1472, 1788; after SHpvisch of AVillughby. 

 Balistes spilotopterygiui, "Walbaum, Artedi riscium, iii, 455, 1792, Brazil ; after Guaperva 



lata, LisTEE. 

 Balistes guttatus, Walbaum, Artedi Pise, in, 467, 1792, St. Vincent; after Stipvisch of 



Willughby. 

 Balistes ciliaris, Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 471, 1801, Brazil; after Lister. 

 Balistes liberiensis, Steindachner, Ichth. Notizen, iv, 9, 1867, Monrovia in Liberia. 

 •I Balistes powelli* Cope, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1870, 120, Newport, R. I. (young); 



Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 855, 1883. 

 Balistes moribundusj CoPE, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1871, 479, St. Martins; young. 



* Balistes powelli, CoPE. Head 3J in total length; depth 1|. D. Ill, 26; A. 22. Form 

 elevated, profile convex; scales without prominent .spine.s; 2 or 3 scapular plates; first 

 dorsal spine rugose, IJ- in muzzle; third dorsal spine well developed. Ashy above, pale 

 below; sides everywhere with series of longitudinally oval azure spots; dorsal and anal 

 fina marked with smaller blue spots. (Cope.) Newport, Rhode Island; a doubtful spe- 

 cies, probably the young of Balistes forcipatus -, in any event a species straying from the 

 West Indies in the Gulf Stream. The shorter anal is the only evident cliaraVter by which 

 powelli could be distinguished from forcipatus. (Named for its discoverer, Samuel Powell, 

 of Newport. ) 



t The following is a description of the type of Balistes moribundtis, Cope: Head 2J; 

 depth IJ iu very young; eye 2 in snout in young. D.29; A. 26; scales about 60. None of 

 the rays produced (iu the young). Caudal regularly convex, probably concave with age; 

 first dorsal spine bristly in front ; third spine well developed, much behind second; pel- 

 vic bone elongate, spinous brliind, its ])osterior part movable, its flap with ray-like spines ; 

 scapular plates about 4; iinterinr teeth acuminate; cheek scales numerous, rugose, no 

 naked fissures; anterior protile of head nearly straight; scales rough, their outlines in- 

 distinct, each with 2 rows of spinules, several in an anterior curved row, and 2 in a 

 posterior row ; no spines on caudal peduncle; lateral line not evident in the type, prob- 

 ably appearing with age. Color brown, with many small, pale-blue spots all over sides of 



