276 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxv. 



i8. OSBECKIA SCRIPTA (Osbeck). 



Unicornu pisces baliainnms (the Uuicuru li^ili) Catesby, Hist. Nat. Carolina, etc., 



II, 1737, pi. XIX ; Bahamas. 

 Balistes scy^ijjtus Osbeck, Iter Chin., I, 1757, j). 144; China. 

 Balistes monoceros, var. scriptus Gmelin, Sys. Nat., 1788, p. 14(53 (after Osbeck). 

 MonacantMs scriptus GtJNTHER, Cat., VIII, 1870, p. 252. 

 Alutera scripta Jordan and EveRxMANn, Fish. N. and M. Anier., Ill, 1S98, p. 



1719. 

 ?Lija trompa Parra, Dis. Piezas Hist. Nat., 1787, p. 46, pi. xxii, fig. 1; Habana. 

 Balistes loevis Block, Ichthyol., IX, 1795, p. 82, pi. ccccxiv; Morocco, Tran- 



quebar. 

 Balistes ornatus Marion de Proce, Bull. See. Philom., 1822, p. 131; East Indies. 

 Aluteres par era 'Lessor, Voy. Coquille, Zo51., 1824, p. 106; East Indies. 

 1 Moiiacanthus j)robosddeus Ra^^zani, Nov. Coinm. Ac. Sc. Inst. Bonon., 1842, \k 8; 



Brazil. 

 Aluterus venosus Hollard, Ann. Sc. Nat., 4th ser., IV, 1855, ji. 14, pi. i, fig. 3; 



New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago. Coll. Lesson and Garnot. 

 '! Alutera picturataFoBY, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila, 1863, p. 183, Cuba. 



Head 3; depth 8^; D. I. 44 to 46; A. 46 to 48. Body oblong, greatly 

 compressed, the depth a little greater than the space between the tip 

 of the snout and the posterior margin of the eye. Head long, its 

 depth equal to space from tip of snout to posterior margin of eye; 

 snout produced upward, the upper profile concave; eye rather small, 

 3i to 4i in snout, 4 to 5i in head, f equal to its diameter to 1 in the 

 space between the upper end of the gill opening and its lower margin, 

 and equal to interorbital space; mouth small; jaws subequal; teeth 

 pointed; lips thin and rather narrow; gill opening beginning before 

 the eye, but not as far forward as the nostril, runs obliquely upward 

 until below the origin of the spinous dorsal. Spinous dorsal over 

 back part of the eye and nearer the tip of snout than the origin of the 

 soft dorsal or else midwav l)etween; pectoral inserted level with the 

 anterior margin of the e3'e, or a little in front of its center, and in the 

 middle of the space between its lower margin and the lower edge of 

 the bod}'; dorsal and anal fins low, the anterior rays of both a little 

 longer than the other.s, and their origins opposite; caudal long, very 

 long in 3'oung, in which it is 2i in body, and with the median rays 

 much longer than the others; caudal peduncle 2 or a trifle over in head. 



Color of 3'oung in spirits uniform brownish, many light-bluish 

 curved streaks and spots, some nearh" as large as the pupil of the eye; 

 fins, except the caudal, all plain-colored, caudal fin barred with broad, 

 irregular dark-brownish stripes on its basal portion, and with its outer 

 part dark-brownish. Skin fine velvety. Tropical seas, common in 

 East and West Indies alike, occasionally met with on the west coast of 

 Mexico, rare northward. We have received a single small specimen, 

 5f inches long, from Kiusiu from Professor Mitsukuri, and a stufled 

 one, 13f inches long, from Nagasaki from a local collector. The above 

 description is from these two specimens. 



