1698 Bulletin 47, United States National Bhisevm. 



Holland, author of "Monographie delafamillecles Balistoides" (1853) and 

 other papers, the chief source of our knowledge of the structure and 

 relations of the riectognaths.) 



2113. HOLLARDIA HOLLARDI, Poey. 



Head 2| ; depth If ; eye large, 2^ in head. D. YI, 17 ; A. 14 ; P. 15 ; C. 12. 

 Upper and lower profiles of head equally ohli(iue; first dorsal spine at 

 middle of body and at its highest point; teeth slender, 5 + 5 in each Jaw; 

 fin rays all rough; ventral spines longer than longest dorsal spine, 1^ in 

 head; soft vertical fins rounded; pectoral short, pointed; gill opening 

 vertical ; skin everywhere very rough. Pale greenish, with interrupted 

 dark hands. Cuba; a single injured specimen, 9| inches long, washed 

 ashore on the reef near Havana. 



Hollardia Itollardi, Poet, Memorias, ii, 348, pi- 18, fig- H, IS^^. Cuba; Gf nther, Cat., viii, 

 209, 1870. 



Family CLXIX. BALISTID^. 



(The Trigger-fishes.) 



Body oblong, or ovate, moderately compressed, covered with rather 

 laro-e rough scales or scutes of varying form, the scutes not forming an 

 immovable carapace. Lateral line obscure or wanting. Mouth small, 

 terminal, low; jaws short, each with about 1 series of separate incisor- 

 like teeth ; eye near occiput ; preorbital very deep. Chin without barbel. 

 Gill openings small, slit-like, above or in front of pectoral fins, and not 

 before eyes. Dorsal iius 2, the anterior of 2 or 3 spines, the first spine 

 highest,' very strong, the second locking it in erection; second dorsal 

 remote from the first, of many soft rays; caudal fin rounded or forked; 

 ventral fins wanting, their place occupied by a single stout thick spine at 

 "the end of the Aery long, usually movable, pubic bone. Post-temporal 

 short, simple, the forks obliterated, the bone grown solidly to the skull, 

 and with no foramen. Vertebra? in reduced number (17). Genera about 

 9, species about 50. Shore fishes of the tropical seas, of rather large size, 

 carnivorous or partly herbivorous, very rarely used as food, mauy of them 

 reputed as poisonous. According to Dr. Day, "Eating the flesh of these 

 fishes occasions in places symptoms of most virulent poisoning. Dr. Men- 

 nier, at the Mauritius, considers that the poisonous flesh acts primarily on 

 the nervous tissue of ^he stomach, occasioning violent spasms of that 

 organ and shortly afterwards of all the muscles of the body. The frame 

 becomes racked with spasms, the tongue thickened, the eye fixed, the 

 breathing laborious, and the patieni expires in a paroxysm of extreme 

 suflfering." (Balistidw, genus Balistes, Gunther, Cat., Vli, 211-229, 1870.) 



a. Caudal peduncle compressed. 



6. Teetli -white or pale, not red, 



c. Teetli unequal, oblique, each one deeply notched. 



d. Gill opening with a number of enlarged bony plates or scutes behind 

 it; ventral flap movable, supported by a series of spines, more or 

 less free at tip, and resembling liu rays ; cheeks entirely scaled, 

 without naked grooves or patches; eye with a groove before it; 

 scales rather small, 50 to 75. 



