634 



>('AN1)IXAVIAN FISHES. 



R. br. G; D. 3 24—26: .1. 21-24: P. 15: (V.) \: I'. \ + 

 10+ 1 ; L. lat. 46 — 5G. 

 ■Si/ii. Giiaperua longa. Lister in App. :iil Wii.i.riiiii!., llisl. Pi.'c, 



p. 21, tab. I, 20. 

 Balistes maculatus, Bl., Natunj. Aiisl. Fisch., pt. II, p. 25, 



tab. CLI; Blkr, Atl. Ichtli. Ind. Or. AVcW., lom. V, p. 122, 



tab. CCXVUI, fig. 4; Gthr, Unt. Brit. Miis., Fish., vol. VIII, 



p. 21.3; Malm, Olvers. Vet. AUaii. Forli. 1875, No. 7, p. 8 ; 



Obijs.. Boh. Fn., p. 5!)9; D.w, Fisli. Iml, p. 687, tab. 



CLXXV, fig. .3; Fish. (it. lirit., In-I., vol. II, p. 267, tab. 



CXLV; LiLLJ., Sv., Xory. Fish-., vol. Ill, p. 420. 

 Balistes brevissimiis + Bid. aiujulosus {.') + Bat. maculatus + 



Bat. longissimus, Holi,abd, Ann. Sc. Nat., 4 ser., Zool., 



toni. r. pp. 56—62, fab. 3, figg. 1 — 4. 



The Spotted File-tisli attain.s a lengtli of ;it least 4 

 (Int., and is distiiigtiislied, when adult, among its con- 



as a rarity, iiaving wandered to our waters probably 

 in the same manner as Aiifei/iKtrhts lii.^frin, merely a 

 casual vi.sitor to Scandinayian regions. 



In Scandinayia the File-fish, of course, possesses no 

 ecoiH)niical imiiortance: tind it is not used in any maimer, to 

 the best of our knowledge, in its true haliitat. Tho other 

 European species of the genus, Balistes caprisctis, a bjrni 

 belonging to the warmer regions of the Atlantic and ti:e 

 Pacific, not very rare in the Mediterranean, and once 

 or twice met with on the coasts of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, is also one of the least useful fishes. According 

 to Caxestrini" it is not eaten in Italy. The flesh of the 

 whole genus, as we have mentioned abovi', is also sns- 



■%ft». 



'*%«. 



Batisti'.'! iiiariilatiis. ' ., Ilie natinol size. Valiiaraisd; the Kiii/eiiii' Expedition. 



geners by its elongatetl form and by the coniparatively 

 great height and almost falfiform shaiic of the second 

 dorsal and the anal tins. It is one of the first- 

 discovered species of the genus, and its range ex- 

 tends over the tropical and subtropical seas of both 

 hemispheres. In the \¥est Indies it has long lieen known, 

 together with another species, under the name of Sa- 

 hiico: and from these regions it sometimes strays to 

 the coasts of North-western Kuro|)e. It has once been 

 found, according to GDnthek, off Pol])erro in Cornwall; 

 and in Uddevalla Museum is preserved a stuffed speci- 

 men, 272 mm. long, which is said to have been taken 

 during the autumn of 18.57 off "SaltkiSllan, at the head 

 of (Tidlmai- Fjord, whence it was forwarded fresh to the 

 said museum". Of its habits we have no special infor- 

 mation. In the Scandinavian fauna it is interesting only 



pected of possessing poisonous properties. In those 

 tro])ical regions where the species are most plentiful, 

 the natives suppose that these poisonous properties are 

 due to the food of the fishes and are especially dangerous 

 when the fishes live on coralline animals. Day describes'', 

 according to Meuniers obseryations at Mauritius, the 

 .symptoms caused by the eating of File-fi.shes. The 

 poison operates immediateh' upon the nerves of the 

 stomach and causes violent spasmodic convulsions in its 

 walls. Soon afterwards, these convulsions spread to the 

 muscles of the wliole body. The tongue swells, the 

 eyes stare, the breath grows difiictilt, and the patient 

 dies in the most acute agony. Powerful emetics, fol- 

 lowed by oleaginous substances and emulsions, are the 

 best antidotes. (Jther species of the genus, however, 

 enjoy a good rej)utation. 



" Fauna Italica, pt. Ill, Pr. 

 * Fishes of India, p. 68G. 



p. 147. 



