26 



Uuited States National Museum has specimens from Wood's Hole, Mass., 



Charleston, S. C, and the Tortugas; it is not recorded from the Vv^est 



Indies. The Turbot attains a weight of five or six pounds ; its flesh is 



not unpalatable, and its tough, shagreen-like skin is used for polishing 



purposes. It has a habit of swimming on its side, just at the surface, 



like the Sunfish {Mola rotunda), and, from this habit as well as perhaps 



a fancied similarity of its form to that of the European Turbot {Rhombus 



maxi7nus), its name appears to have been derived. It no doubt breeds 



in these waters ; I have seen young individuals not exceeding three 



inches in length. The species should be compared with Balistcs sohaco, 



Poey. No other species of this subfamily were observed. 



I suppose the "Old-wife," "Ocean-turbot," and "Black-turbot'' of the 



fishermen to correspond respectively to Balistes retula, Linne, Canthidcr- 



mis mac Hiatus, (Gmelin) Bleeker, and Melichthi/s buniva (Lacepede), all of 



which, as well as Balistes ringens, Linn^., are quite certain to occur in 



thosp wiitprs • 



ALUTERA SCRIPTA, (OsbecTc) Blcclcer. 



Unicornis Piscis Bahamcnsis, Catesuv, Nat. Hist. Carol. Florida, and the Bahama Islands, 



ii, 174.3, 19, tab. 19. 

 Balistes scriptus, Osbeck, Iter. Sin. 17C5, 144. — Gmelin, Linud, Syst. Nat. 1, 1788, 1463. 

 Aliiteres scrijitus, Bleeker, Ned. Tyds. Dierk. iii, 1865, 28; Ichth. 1865, 141, tab. 



ccxxvii, 4. 

 Monacanthus scrijiius, GiJNTiiEii, Cat. Fiah. Brit. Mus. viii, 1870, 252. 

 Lija Trompa, Parra, Desc. Dif. Piez. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 1787, 46, lam. xxii, f. 1. 

 Balistes Lcevis, Blocii, Ichth. xii, 1797, 63, tab. ccccxiv. — Shaw, Gen. Zool. v. 1804, 



405. 

 Aluterius lcevis, Cuvier, R^gne Animal, 1817. — Cantor, Cat. Malayan Fish. 355. — 



Bleeker, Verhandl. Batav. Gen. xxiv (Balistidas), 21. — Hollard, Ann. Sci. 



Nat. 1855, 15.— Day, Fish. Malabar, 1865, 355. 

 Alutera Iwvis, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish. & Kept, ii, 1839, 327. 

 Aleuieres lcevis, Richardson, Voy. H. M. S. Sulphur, 1845, 131, pi. lxi,f. 3. 

 Balistes Monoceros, var. Lcevis, Schneider, Bloch, Syst. Ichth. 1801, 463. 

 Balistes ornatus, ProcH:, Bull. Philora. 1822, 131. 

 Aluteres pareva, Lesson, Voy. Coquille, ii, 1830, 106. 

 Aluterus I'craosus, Hollard, op. cit. 14, pi. 1, f. 3. 

 Alutera picturata, FoEY, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863,183; Rep. Fls.-Nat. Cuba, 



ii, 438. 

 Alcutercs picturatiis. Cope, Traus. Am. Phil. Soc, 1870, 476. 



A specimen twenty-one inches long was taken off the islands in April, 

 1872. The occurrence of the species is so unusual that it has no common 

 name. It appears to bo strictly pelagic, and is recorded from China, 

 the Indian Archipelago, Tahiti, New Irelaud, Coroinandei, the Cana- 

 ries, the West Indies, Brazil, and South Carolina. 



