PROCEEDINGS OF UXITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 279 



Crayracmi tnangiilaris duohm eornubtis curtis in f route, etc. Klein, Misc. iii, p. 21. 

 Coffrc triangulaire a qtiatre <^pincs, Bonnaterre, p. 21, pi. xiii, fig. 43. 

 To'-n, Cuba (Auglice "Bull"). 

 Cow-fish, Bermudiis. 

 Cuckold, Jamaica. 



Cucl-old-fish, Blocii, Ausl. Fische, p. 21, pi. xiii, fig. 43. 



DISTRIBUTIOX. 



Tortugas (National Museum). 

 Cape Florida (National Museum). 

 Charlotte Harbor (National Museum). 

 Pensacola (National Museum). 

 Mississippi (National Museum). 

 South Carolina (National Museum). 

 West Africa (Bleeker). 

 Indian Archipelago (Bleeker). 

 Cape of Good Hope (Bleeker). 



St. Croix (Cope). 



St. Martins (Cope). 



Bahamas (Cope). 



Barbados (Schombui-gk). 



Jamaica (Giinther, National Museum). 



Santo Domingo (Giinther). 



Bahia (Giinther, Castelnau). 



Cuba (Poey, National Museum). 



Near mouth of Miss. R. (Mitchill, 1818). 



Chesapeake Bay (Lugger). 



Ostracions, with triagonal carapace approaching to pentagonal form 

 in adults, to tetragonal in young, by reason of extension of base of 

 frontal spines, ventral surface plane, angles obtusely carinate, and with 

 two ventral and two horizontal frontal spines. Color brown, yellow, 

 blue or green, the centres of the scutes often lighter than the margins. 



The range of the Cow-fish is much more extended than that of any of 

 the preceding species, including St. Helena, Guinea, the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and Charleston, S. C. A specimen was obtained October 11, 1877, 

 near Gwyn's Island, Chesapeake Bay, by Mr. Otto Lugger. These local- 

 lities are well authenticated, and the species is also claimed as a mem- 

 ber of the fauna of the Indian Ocean. A sketch of Ostracion quadri- 

 come by Burkhardt, marked " Mobile, 1853," is in the Agassiz collection. 

 The sketch is also endorsed with a memorandum to the effect that a speci- 

 men from Florida was living in Aquarial Garden, Boston, 1860. 



Bleeker admits this species to the fauna of the Dutch East Indies, but 

 states expressly that he has never found it, and that he follows the au- 

 thority of Bennett and Raffles, and that it is uncertain whether it really 

 inhabits the Indian Archijielago. 



I have never seen more than one species of this type, and the syn- 

 onymy at the head of this notice expresses the views of the majority of 

 ichthyologists as well as my own. It seems only fair, however, to quote 

 the opinion of Dr. Bleeker. "It appears to me very evident," wrote 

 he, "that there are at least five species of triangular (or rather pentag- 

 onal) Ostracions with frontal and preanal spines. Of these this (0. 

 quadricornis) is the one longest known, and may be easily distinguished 

 by the nearly vertical profile of the head as well as by the strong sy)ine 

 wliich terminates the postero-superior dorsal plate. The other s])ecies 

 resembling quadricornis are Ostracion notacanthns, Bleeker, Ostracion tri- 

 cornis, L. (= Ostracion maculatus, Hollard), Ostracion Gronorii, Bleeker, 

 and Ostracion guineensis, Bleeker, but none of these exhibits the re- 

 markable character of the postero-superior dorsal angle develo])ed into 

 a si)ine. Ostracion notacanthus is (characterized by the presence of a 



