1742 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



tinned on side of tail; adnlts (according to Poey) with chestnut-colored 

 hands on caudal peduncle and on chin; dark streaks ahout eye. A young 

 specimen hoforc ns, 2 inches in length, from the Snapper Banks oft" Pen- 

 sacoLa, does not show these hars. Upper and lower edges of caudal 

 abruptly jet-black, this color extending as a dark stripe along the median 

 line of caudal peduncle above and below. No cross hands on tail. Belly 

 with conspicuous 2-rooted prickles; some prickles and granulations on 

 the back. West Indies, north, in rather deep water, to the banks oft" Pen- 

 sacola; also found in the Madeiras and Bermudas, {rostratus, long- 

 snouted.) 



Tetrodon rostratus, Bloch, Icbthyologia, I, pi. 146, 1782, India; Gunther, Cat., vni, 303, 

 1870; GooDE, Am. Jour. Sci. Arts 1877, 290; Gunther, Shore ri.sLes, Clicalleiiger, 9, 

 1880. 



Tetrodon capistratus, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1839, 90, Madeira. 



Prilonotus (Anchisomus) cmidicinctus, RiCHARDSON, Voyage Herald, 162, pi. 30, figa. 1-3, 

 1854, locality unl<uo^yn. 



Tetradon ornatus, Poey, Synopsis, 433, 1868, Havana; Gunther, Cat., vm, 303, 1870. 



Tetrodon caxidicinctus, Gunther, Cat., viii, 303, 1870; Poey, Enumeratio, 73, 1875. 



Canthirfaster caudicinctits. Cope, Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. 1871, 479. 



Canthigaster rostratus, Jordan &, Edwards, I. c, 246. 



Family CLXXIV. DIODONTID^.* 



(TiiK PoucupixE Fishes.) 



Body short, broad, depressed above. Belly moderately inflatable, cov- 

 ered everywhere except on the lips and caudal peduncle with spines, 

 Avhicli are usually 2-rooted or S-rooted at their bony base. Caudal ])e- 

 duncle short and slender. Mouth moderate, terminal, ea.ch jaw covered 

 with a bony plate like the beak of a bird, these not divided by a median 

 suture. Nostrils on each side forming a small tentacle, usually with 2 

 openings. Eye rather large, gill opening moderate, inmiediately in front 

 of the pectoral, Avhich ia short, broad, and rounded. Dorsal and anal fins 

 short, similar to each other, rounded in form and placed posteriorly. 

 Genera about 6; species 15. Sluggish fishes, living on the bottom among 

 weeds and corals, in tropical seas. Wheu disturbed, tliey swallow air and 

 float belly upward on the water. Their capacity of inflation is very 

 much less than that of the TetraodoniUJw, from which family they differ 

 chiefly in the stronger armature and in having no division in the bony 

 I>late of either jaw. They are rarely used as food, being generally 

 regarded as poisonous. The species are mostly well known in collections, 

 the singular form having attracted the attention of travelers in the ear- 

 liest times. {Tetrodonilda;, part, Giinther, Cat., vm, 306-316, 1870.) 



<(. Dermal ossifications very small, each one 2 rooted, with a fine flexible spine or hair 



like bristle. Nasal tentacles present. Trichodiodon, 682. 



aa. Dermal ossifications mostly 2-rooted ; the spines rather slender, but stiif and erectile. 



Nasal tentacle simple, with 2 lateral openings. Diodon, 683 



* See Eigenmann's Review of the Genera and Species of Diodontidw found in American 

 seas, Annals N. Y. Ac. Sci. 1885, 2S7. 



