360 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
Sub-Order OSTRACODERMI. 
The Trunk Fishes. 
Represented by a singular family, the only one in this group. 
Family OSTRACIIDE. 
The Trunk Fishes. 
Body short, cuboid, triquetrous or pentagonal, covered by a 
carapace formed of firmly united polygonal bony patches. Jaws, 
bases of fins and caudal peduncle covered by smooth skin and 
free. Maxillaries and premaxillaries firmly united. Gill-opening 
a nearly vertical slit, below and behind the eye. Vertebre 14, 
anterior 9 elongate, last 5 extremely short. No ribs. Dorsal 
single, short, without spine. Anal short, similar to dorsal. Cau- 
dal rounded. No ventrals. 
Fishes of the tropical seas living near the bottom in shallow 
waters. They are so singular in appearance and so easily pre- 
served that they have been common in collections ever since col- 
lecting tropical curiosities began. One species straying to our 
shores. 
Genus LACTOPHRYS Swainson. 
The Trunk Fishes. 
Lactophrys trigonus (Linnzus). 
Trunk Fish. 
Known from all of our other fishes by the bony carapace, which 
is without spines and closed behind dorsal fin. 
I have never seen any examples, though a trunk fish, most 
likely this species, has been reported to me from Cape May. Most 
likely Dr. Abbott’s reference is to this species. It reaches about 
a foot in length. 
?Tetrasomus camelinus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 827. 
