1724 Bulletin //, Ihiited States National Museum. 



fin. Olive tiiay ; a very faint blue spot in the center of eacli of most of tlie 

 scales; nostril in a yellow spot; boundaries of upper scutes blackisb, of 

 lower bluish ; outlines of various scutes behind gill opeuing black, form- 

 ing a dusky area, especially distinct in the young ; a similar smaller dusky 

 area on side on level of eye ; iris yellow ; fins all pale olive ; vent yellow ; 

 belly light olive, outlines of the scutes bluish ; base of pectorals yellowish. 

 Length about a foot. West Indies ; very common as I'ar north as Bermuda 

 and Key West, occasionally northward in the Gulf Stream (Holmes Hole, 

 Mass., Storer; Woods Hole; Chesapeake Bay, Lugger). All 4 of our siie- 

 cies occur in the harbor of Parii, in Brazil. This species and others are 

 said to utter grunting sounds. ( r/aeZj, three ; • yovoz, angle. ) 



Ostracion triangulatus leriibis figurararuin hexagonarum eminentihus, etc., Artedi, Gen- 

 era, 50, 1738, Jamaica; seen by Artedi in the collection of Sir Hans Sloane and in 

 the Nagg's Head Inn, London. 



Ostracium trigonns, Linn.eus, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 330, 1758, India ; after Artedi ; GOnther, 

 Cat., vni, 256, 1870 ; Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 276. 



Oitracion yalei, Storer, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., I, 1837, 353, Holmes Hole, on Marthas 

 Vineyard. 



Lactophrys ovicei)S, Kaup, Archiv Naturg. 1855,218; specimens with 10 dorsal rays, Lin- 

 naeus having given by error "D. 11 " in the original description of O. trigonns. 



Ostracion undulatus, Poey, Synopsis, 441, 1868, Havana. 



Ostracion expansum, Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1870, 474, figs. 9-10, St. Martins, "West 

 Indies. 



Lactophrys trigonus, I'oey, Memorias, ii, 362, 1861. 



Ostracium trlgonum, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 853, 1883. 



Subgenus ACANTHOSTRACION, Bleeker. 

 2142. LACTOPHRYS TRICOUNIS (Linnaens). 



fCuCKOLD; TORO ; COW-FISH.) 



Head 4f ; depth 21. D. 10; A. 10. Carapace trigonal; adults with a 

 broad loAv ridge on each side of the back, the dorsal ridge more elevated 

 than in the young, which are somewhat tetragonal. Ventral surface 

 nearly flat; angles of body carinate ; a stout spine directed forward over 

 each eye; abdominal spines flat, directed l>ackward; a median dorsal 

 8i)ine said to be sometimes present, never persistent, none in our speci- 

 mens; bridges behind dorsal and anal each ending in a flat spine; caudal 

 peduncle with or without a free plate * above or below ; carapace closed 

 behind dorsal fin. Color lu'owu, yellow, blue, or green, with irregular 

 blue blotches, the centers of the scutes often lighter than the margins. 

 Young, light gray, tinged with olive ; lielly white ; head and carapace with 

 round sjjots of rather light blue, these sometimes forming more or less inter- 

 rupted longitudinal stripes; about 4 of these stripes on cheek; tail above 

 with blue, brown-edged spots ; dorsal olive, its base blackish ; caudal olive, 

 edged and mottled with light blue ; anal similar ; pectorals olive. Length 

 18 inches. Tropical parts of the Atlantic; very common from Carolina to 

 Brazil, ranging northward in the Gulf Stream to Charleston (Goode) and 

 Chesapeake Bay (Lugger); occasional about the shores of the Gulf of 



* "Ont of 14 siiecimens examined 5 had plates above and below, 1 had 2 above, and 6 

 had none. " (Goode.) 



