Jordan and Evcrmann. — Fishes of North America. 2177 



abundant in the Mediterranean. {rpiyXa, Trigla, classical name of 

 Mullus harhatus, still used by the fishermen of the Adriatic, transferred to 

 this group by Artedi for no evident reason.) 



2504. TRIGLA CUCULUS, Lmnseus. 



(Red Gurnard.) 



Head 3^; depth 5f. D. lX-17; A. 16; plates along lateral line 65; eye 

 5i in head; second dorsal spine 1^; pectoral 1-1^0; anal 11; caudal li. 

 Body not anywhere compressed; head everywhere covered with rough, 

 bony plates; mouth moderate, with bands of villiform teeth on jaws and 

 vomer ; maxillary scarcely reaching to front of eye ; snout truncate, with 

 2 or 3 spines on each side ; eyes placed high ; a couple of spines on supra- 

 orbital rim above anterior edge of eye; interorbital deeply concave; post- 

 temporal, with its upper surface rugose, ending as a spine behind ; a couple 

 of spines on opercle in front of the flap ; a spine on clavicle just above 

 pectoral fin ; a series of long, narrow plates along lateral line ; back and 

 sides covered with small scales, belly naked ; a ridge of about 26 spines 

 extending along base of dorsals, ending at posterior end of soft dorsal; 

 spinous dorsal triangular in outline, the second spine the longest, spines 

 rapidly decreasing in length behind it, second spine reaching to soft 

 dorsal when depressed; ijectoral long and narrow, reaching to front of 

 anal ; ventrals inserted a distance of ^ eye behind lower end of base of 

 pectoral, reaching nearly to tip of pectorals ; caudal long and emarginate. 

 Color rose- red on back, white below ; inner face of pectoral blackish, the 

 outer face slightly dusky; other fins dusky. Southern Europe; said by 

 Cuvier to have been ouce brought from New York by Milbert; a very 

 doubtful record. No recent collector has found any species of Trigla in 

 American waters. The specimen here described is from the Paris market. 

 {cuculus, cuckoo.) 



Trigla tota rubens, Artedi, Genera Piscium, 45, 1738. 

 Triijla cuculus,* LmN^US, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 301, 1758, Mediterranean, open sea ; after 



Artedi. 

 Trigla pini, Bloch, Ichthyol., pi. 355, 1793; Gunther, Cat., ii, 199; Cuvier & Valen- 

 ciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 26; De Kay, New York Fauna: Fislie-s, 43, pi. 70, 1842; 

 Day, Fisli. Gt. Brit., 58, 1880. 



Family CLXXXV. PERISTEDIID^. 

 (The Deep-water Gurnards.) 



Body elongate, fusiform, covered with bony plates, each of which is 

 armed with a strong spine ; head bony ; each preorbital produced into a 

 long, flat process, which projects more or less beyond the mouth; mouth 

 small, inferior, like that of a sturgeon; teeth nooe; lower jaw provided 

 with barbels; gill membranes separate, narrowly joined to the isthmus 



* Polynemus tridigitatus, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, I, 449, 1815, New York (no 

 description), referred by Dr. Giiuther to the synonymy of Trigla cuculus, is apparently 

 baaed on a recollection of some species of Frionolus. It is certainly not a Trigla. 



