TETRAODONTIDA. — XCI. 169 
openings small, slit-like. Dorsals separate, the first of 1 to 8 
spines; 2d D.and A. long; V. wanting; pubic bone long, movable, 
with sometimes a spine at its end. Cos 8; species 100; car- 
nivorous fishes of the warm seas. 
a. Dorsal spines 8; body covered with thick, firm scales; pelvis with a blunt 
Bpine. .) » Jo fe bALISTHS, 240. 
aa. Dorsal spine siete: or ea by a Sade: skin with minute rough 
shagreen-like scales. 
b. Pubic spine present; gill-slit short, nearly vertical. A. 25 to 35. 
Monacantuus, 241, 
bb. Pubic spine wanting ; gill-slit long, oblique. A. 36 to 50. 
ALUTERA, 242. 
240. BALISTES (Artedi) Linneus. (8ad4, to shoot; from the 
trigger-like 2d spine of D.) 
a. A groove before eye; larger plates behind gill opening; teeth white; no 
spines on tail. (Balistes.) 
478. B. carolinensis Gmelin. LEATHER-JACKET. TRIGGER- 
FISH. Soft D. high; C. lobes elongate in adult. Brownish; young 
spotted with darker; 2d D. and A. with interrupted brown streaks ; 
C. mottled ; scales on head similar to those on body. Head 3; 
depth 14. D.III-27. A. 25. Lat.1.51 to62. L. 18. Warm 
seas, rarely N. to Cape Cod. (Eu.) 
241. MONACANTHUS Cuvier. (jovos, one; dkav6a, spine.) 
a. Pubic spine movable; ventral flap moderate, not extending beyond it ; 
dorsal spine with retrorse barbs. 
479. M. hispidus (L.). Foou-Fisu. Five-risn. No recurved 
spines on tail; first soft ray of D. sometimes filamentous. Dull 
greenish, mottled with darker. Head 32; depth13. D. I-82. 
A. 32. L.6. Cape Cod to Cuba, common. (Lat., rough.) 
242. ALUTERA Cuvier. (? ddovtos, unwashed.) 
480. A. scheepfi (Walbaum). Dull-greenish, marbled with 
darker; D. spine slender, not barbed ; C. long in young, shorter 
with age. Head 32; depth 24. D.I, 36. A. 38. L.18. Cape 
Cod to Texas. (To Johann David Schopf, a Hessian surgeon in 
the Revolutionary War, and an excellent naturalist.) 
Famity XCI. TETRAODONTIDA, (THE SWELL-FISHEs.) 
Body oblong, little compressed, the skin naked and usually 
prickly; stomach capable of great inflation; teeth in each jaw con- 
fluent into two, which form a sort of beak; no fin spines; D. oppo- 
site A. ; C. distinct ; V. wanting ; P. short ; pelvic bone moderate. 
Gill openings small; air-bladder present. Genera 7; species 70, in 
warm seas. They are noted for their power of swallowing air, by 
