282 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



I'esp^ce qu'elles doivent repr^senter. Cependant c'est h Forskaol qu'on 

 en doit la premiere description tolerable." 



The diagnosis of Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of the Systema 

 NatursB is as follows : 



" (Ostracion) gibbosus, 8. O. tetragonus muticus, gib- 

 bosus. 



Art. gen. 55, syn. 83. O- 

 stracion quadrangulus, gib- 

 bosus. 



Habitat in Africa. 

 Varietatem speciei 1 credit 

 Gronovius." 



This species surely has no just claim to a place in the fauna of the 

 United States. 



De Kay inserted it in his work on the fishes of E'ew York on very 

 slight evidence. I quote the paragraph relating to the single specimen 

 on which he based his description and figure : 



" I know nothing of the origin of this species, except that it is said to 

 have been taken on the shore of Long Island. It is possibly the species 

 named triqueter by Dr. Smith, and which he represents as 'inhabiting 

 the vicinity of Long Island, New York, but rarely makes its appearance 

 so far to the north as Massachusetts, unless driven on shore by the vio- 

 lence of storms.' The triqueter of Artedi, however, has no spines. It 

 bears a considerable resemblance to the 0. turritus of Forskaol, from 

 the Eed Sea ; but that species is quadrangular." o}). cit. p. 342. 



There can be little doubt that the fish in De Kay's possession was a 

 dried specimen of 0. turritus, probably from a Chinese insect box. 



Dr. Glinther remarks that this species is " very closely allied to and 

 probably identical with 0. gibhosus''^ (^iii? P' 259), but in his diagnosis 

 he does not refer to any specimens intermediate in form between the 

 two typical forms. 



OSTEACION ARGUS, Sclineider. 



Ostradon arcus, Schneider, Bloch Syst. Ichth. 1801, p. 502 (citing Seba's figure). 



Ostradon (Acanthostraeion) areas, Bleeker, Atlas Ichthyologique, v, 1865, pp. 35-36, 

 tab. ccii, fig. 3 (adult) ; cciv, fig. 4 (young), et alibi. 



Ostradon cornutus, Bloch (nee Linnaeus), Ausl. Fisclie, i, p. 105, pi. cxxxix. — Bonna- 



TERRE, Tabl. Encyclop. et Method, etc. Icbtb. 1788, p. 22, pi, xiv, fig. 44. — Laci&- 



pi:DE, Hist. Nat. Poiss. i, 1798, p. 470.— Schneider, 1. c. p. 500 (?).— Shaw, Gen. 



Zool. V, 1803, p. 223, pi. clxx.— Cuvier, Regne Anim. 1 ed. 1817, ii, p. 154; 2d 



ed. 1829, p. 376, note; "3d ed. Poiss. p. 346."— "Bennett, Life of Raffles, 



1830, p. 693."— Richardson, Rep. 15th Meeting Brit. Assoc. ; Rep. Ichth. China 



and Japan, 1846, p. 200. 



distribution. 



Indian Ocean and Archipelago (Gunther). 

 Micronesia (Gunther). 



Professor Gill, in his unpublished Bibliography of the Fishes of the 

 West Coast of North America (p. 17), remarks that "a young specimen 



