FISHES AND FISH DEVELOPMENT—PIERS. 97 
DeKay says he never had an opportunity of seeing this rare 
species, but copied from Storer his figure of one found on the 
coast of Massachusetts. 
TETRODON. SP. ? 
Description :—Body oblong, but being inflated it appears 
nearly globular. Zhe whole surface smooth. No lateral line. 
Head nearly one-third total length. Lips thick. Jaws large. 
The branchial aperture small, just anterior to the base of the 
pectorals. 
Dorsal fin anterior to the anal fin length to breadth as four to 
one. First ray longest. Pectorals of moderate size. The upper 
ray longest, then, after decreasing in length to the fifth, they re- 
main equal until the twelfth when they suddenly decrease in 
size to the fifteenth, which is very short. Anal slender, rounded, 
second ray longest. Caudal equal. 
Colour :—Back and upper part of head of a yellow ground- 
colour, minutely lined longitudinally with dark brown, thus 
giving it a yellowish brown hue which is darkest on the dorsal 
margin. These lines, when examined with a glass, are found to 
be made up of little dots of pigment arranged side by side and 
thus giving the appearance of lines. Under parts dull grey, 
slightly silvery in appearance. Throat yellowish. Margin of 
the mouth brown. Behind the poctorals there are several brown 
blotches which extend to the tail. 
DES Shas. 8.29: 
Total length 10em. Length from branchial aperture to jaws 
4cm. 
This seems to answer DeKay’s description of J. turgidus, 
except in the total absence of the dermal spines, the pres- 
‘ence of which he makes a characteristic of the genus, thus 
excluding our specimen. But Gunther (page 688) says that “in 
some of the species the dermal spines are extremely small, and 
may be absent altogether.” 
The Globe fishes inflate themselves with air, upon which they 
turn on their backs and are driven about by the wind and 
waves. Our fish was in a similar condition when taken on the 
coast of Nova Scotia. 
