Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America, 1719 



projecting, teeth in a single series in each jaw ; eye \\, its diameter below 

 dorsal outline of body; dorsal spine (broken) situated over middle of eye 

 a little nearer soft dorsal than tip of snout; b;ise of soft dorsal slightly 

 shorter than that of anal; pectoral short, eijual to gill opening, its base 

 under posterior \ of gill opening and anterior margin of eye ; caudal i^edun- 

 cle2^ times longer than eye; caudal long and rounded behind. Color in 

 spiiits, slaty brown, darker above, covered with small round dark-brown 

 spots, about \ as big as pupil ; snout dark ; dorsal and anal dusky ; caudal 

 black. West Indies to Brazil, replacing A. sdiwj^fii southward. Here 

 described from a specimen from Jamaica about 9 inches in length. 



Alutera pxmctata, Agassiz, Pise. Brasil., 137, pi. 76, very bad, 1829, Brazil; Castelnau, 

 Aniui. Nouv. Rares., 96, 1855; Jordan &. Ruttee, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1896, 127. 

 ?lfonacan<AMSpwHc<a/!/.s, GUNTHEE, Cat., Tin, 254, 1870. 



Subgenus OSBECKIA, Jordan & Evermann. 



2137. ALUTERA SCRIPTA (Osbeck). 



(Unicokn Fish; Lija Tkompa.) 



Depth 3 to 3i. D. I,44to48; A. 47to52; vertebrie7-f 14. Body oblong, 

 its depth being nearly equal to distance of hind margin of orbit from 

 extremity of snout. Snout produced, with the upper profile concave. 

 Dorsal spine long and slender, above middle of orbit, about IJ in head. 

 Middle of gill opening in advance of middle of eye ; pectoral fin below 

 posterior part of eye; caudal fin elongate, nearly as long as or longer than 

 head, rounded; dorsal and anal fins low; ventral spine none. Head and 

 body olivaceous, with irregular light-blue spots and curved streaks ; besides 

 these, numerous round black spots about as large as pupil ; dorsal and anal 

 yellowish; caudal reddish; skin finely velvety. Length 2 to 3 feet. Trop- 

 ical seas, conuuon in the West Indies, occasionally northward to South 

 Carolina; also occasionally taken about the islands off the west coast of 

 Mexico; specimens before us from Clarion Island of the Revillagigedo 

 Archipelago, and from the Venados at Mazatlan. Apparently the Ameri- 

 can species is not distinct from the East Indian form. Should difterences 

 appear on comparison of specimens ours should stand as Alutera la'cis 

 (Bloch). (scripius, written, from the form of markings.) 



Unicormi jnsceg hahamensis (the Unicorn Fish), Catesby, Hist. Nat. Carolina, etc., li, jil. 



19, 1737, Bahamas. 

 Balistes seriptus, Osbeck, Iter Chin,, i, 144, 1757, China. 



Balistes monoceros, var. scrip«ws, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1463, 1788; after Osbeck. 

 Lija trompa, Pauha, Dif. Piezas Hiat. Nat., 46, pi. 22, fig. 1. 

 Balistes Icevis, Bloch, Ichthyol., ix, 82, pi. 414, 1795, Morocco ; Tranquebar. 

 Balistes ornatus, Marion de Proc;^, Bull. Soc. Philom., 131, 1822. 

 Aluteres pareva. Lesson, Voy. Coquille, Zool., 106, 1828. 



Monacanthus prohoscideus, Eanzani, Nov. Comm. Ac. So. Inst. Bonon., 1842, 8, Brazil. 

 Aluterus venosus, Hollaed, Ann. Sc. Nat., Ser. 4, rv^, 1855, 14, pi. 1, fig. 3, New Ireland, 



Bismarck Archipelago. (Coll. Lesson & Garnot.) 

 Alutera picturata, Poet, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 183, Cuba. 

 Monacanthus seriptus, Gunthee, Cat., viii, 252, 1870. 



