164 Journal of the Mitchell Society [February 



a bed of eel-grass in Bogue Sound near Morehead City. It was 

 presented by bim to tbe U. S. ISTational Museum and identified 

 by Mr. Bean as Lycodontis nioringa, a West Indian eel, not only 

 new to J^ortb Carolina but not before taken so far north. 



Polydactylus octonemus (Girard). 



Threadfin. 



Another fish heretofore unknown in our waters, which Coles 

 had the good fortune to add to our ichthyological fauna, is the 

 threadfin, Polydactylus octonemus. While this fish, according 

 to Jordan and Evermann, (1896) is known to occur on sandy 

 shores along the Atlantic Coast as far north as New York, it is 

 nevertheless an extremely rare fish. Coles took his specimen at 

 Cape Lookout in July, 1910. 



Monacanthus ciliatus (Mitchill). 



Leather-fish. 



While 3 species of the family Monacanthidje have been taken 

 at Beaufort, namely Monacanthus liispidus, C eratacanthus 

 schoepfii and C. punctatus, Monacanthus ciliatus is now record- 

 ed for the first time. In July, 1911, Coles took a small speci- 

 men about 3 inches long in company with M. hispidus in the 

 bight of Cape Lookout. This is a form common in Florida, 

 but, so far as the writer knows, it has not been taken so high up 

 the coast before. 



Lactophrys tricornis (Linnaeus). 



Cow-fish; Trunk-fish. 



Of the 2 trunk-fishes recorded for Beaufort, Lactophrys trig- 

 onus, and L. triqueter, the writer collected a specimen of the 

 latter in 1902 and for some weeks kept it as an aquarium pet. 

 As such it was a very unique and interesting specimen, especi- 

 ally so in its feeding. In July, 1911, Mr. Coles, by taking 

 2 specimens about 4 inches long, added Lactophrys tricornis to 

 our local fauna, and in so doing has verified Dr. Smith's pre- 

 diction (page 344) that it "will no doubt in time be detected 

 on the North Carolina coast." These specimens are on deposit 

 in the National and American Museums. 



