VII.— OBSERVATIONS ON A FisH (Chylomycterus schepfi) NEW 
TO THE FauNA OF Nova Scotia. By Harry PIErs. 
(Read May 8th, 1899.) 
In the summer of about 1896 a curious fish was brought to 
the Provincial Museum by a fisherman who had taken it in deep 
water off Sambro near Halifax. 
At Dr. Gilpin’s request I examined the specimen and found 
that it belonged to the species Chylomycterus schepfi, (Walbaum) 
which is the same as Chilomycterus geometricus, Kaup, and 
Diodon maculostriatus, Mitchell. It is variously known as the 
Common Burr-fish, Rabbit-fish, Swell-toad, or Swell-fish. The 
specific name schwpfi was given it in honour of its discoverer, Dr. 
Johann David Schopf, a Hessian surgeon in the American 
revolutionary war and a noted botanical collector. 
It is a small, elliptical-oval shaped species of -remarkable 
appearance. The bones of the upper and lower jaws are con- 
fluent, forming a short beak with a trenchant edge, without 
teeth. Unlike those of the Tetrodons, these plates are without 
a median suture. The body is covered with short, stout, 
triangular, dermal spines, each with three roots and consequently 
immovable. It is thus well protected from enemies, and would 
prove a thorny morsel to any marine animal foolish enough to 
capture it. 
When fresh from the water the upper parts are greenish- 
black with a series of undulating blackish stripes running from 
the head backward; a similar series between eyes and across 
face ; an ocellated black spot above pectoral ; a larger one behind 
the same fin; another ocellated spot at the base of the dorsal, 
with a smaller spot below it. The specimen has now lost much 
of its colour in alcohol, but the markings may still be traced. 
(110) 
