864 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY lY. 
back runuiug longitudinally, those on the sides obliquely downward and 
backward, those on the front of the head running crosswise; a dark bar 
at base of dorsal; other fins plain. Body a little broader than deep at 
the gill-openings; interocular space broad, concave; eyes large, lateral, 
nearly as long as snout, each with a cirrus above it, longer than the pu- 
pil; gill-opening about as wide as eye, opposite upper anterior part of 
I)ectoral. About 9 spines between eye and tail, their height equal to 
diameter of pupil ; spines on belly much smaller, partly imbedded in skin ; 
some of the posterior with cirri; spines on caudal peduncle; anterior 
root of each spine little if any larger than the others. Pectoral fin 
deeper than long, the margii^ undulate, the upper lobe longest. Head 
2f; depths. D. 12; A. 10; L. Cinches. Massachusetts to West Indies; 
very abundant southward. 
{Diodon geomeiricus Bloch & Schneider, 1801, 513: Diodon maculostriatus Mitchill, 
Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. i, 470, 1815; Gunther, viii, 310.) 
Subsp. (?) fialig^inosiis (Dek.) Goode & Bean. 
Dark brownish olive above, with wavy dusky lines; belly black, the 
bases of its spines bright orange. Entire body covered with large 
three-rooted spines, which are very numerous and close-set, especially 
on the belly; spines of the belly as large or even larger than those on 
back; not imbedded. D. 12; A. 10. Atlantic coast, from Cape Cod 
southward; not common; probably a young form of the preceding. 
{Diodon fuJiginosus Hekay, New York Fauna, Fish. 324.) 
Family CXXX.— ORTHAGORISCID^. 
{The Mead- fishes.) 
Body more or less short and deep, compressed, truncate behind, so 
that there is no caudal peduncle. Skin rough, naked, spinous or tes- 
sellated. Mouth very small, terminal; teeth completely united in each 
jaw, forming a bony beak without median suture, as in Diodon. Dorsal 
and anal fins similar; posterior, more or less perfectly confluent around 
the tail; no spinous dorsal; no ventral fins; pelvic bone undeveloped; 
pectorals present. Bellj" not inflatable; gill-opening small, in front ef 
pectorals; an accessory opercular gill; no air-bladder. Fishes of the 
open seas, apparently composed of a head to which small fins are at- 
tached. Genera 3 ; species 4. Found in most warm seas. 
{Gymnodontes, group Molina Gunther, viii, 317-320.) 
