260 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxiv. 
and reaching a very large size. The veiy young are variou.sl}" short- " 
ened in form and armed with spines. The flesh in these fishes is 
coarse and tough, and they are not used as food. 
a. Body suborl)iciilar, not twice as long as deep; skin tliick, rough, gristly, without 
hexagonal plates Mola, 7. 
aa. Body ol)long, about twice as long as deep; skin smooth, tessellated, with smooth 
hexagonal plates Raman ia, 8. 
7. MOLA Cuvier. 
Mol'i CrviER, Tal)leau Elem. Hist. Nat. Animaux, 1798, p. 323 (rotunda = mola). 
Oiihvagoriscus Bloch, Syst. Ichth., Schneider ed.,1801, p. 510 (mola); misprint 
for Ortliagoriscus. 
Cephalus Shaw, General Zoology, V, 1804, ])p. 2, 432 {mola). 
Orthragus Rafinesque, Caratt. Ale. Nuov. Gen. e Nuov. Sp. Anim. e Piante 
della Sicilia, 1810, p. 17 (Inna = mola). 
Diplanchias Rafinesque, Caratt. Ale. Nuov. Gen. e Nuov. Sp. Anim. e Piante 
della Sicilia, 1810, p. 17 (na.^u.'< = mola). 
Tympanomium Ranzaxi, Novi Comm. Ae. Sci. Bonon., V, 1837, p. 3, pi. after p. 
81 (planci-=mola). 
Trematopsis Ranzani, Novi Comm. Ac. Sci. Bonon., V, 1837, p. 3, .pi. after p. 81 
(willughheii = mola). 
Ozodura Ranzani, Novi Comm. Ac. Sei. Bonon., V, 1837, p. 3, pi. after p. 81 
(orsini = mola) . 
Pedalion (Guilding MS.) Swainson, Nat. Hist, and Cla.-s'n. Fishes, etc., 1839, I, 
p. 199; II, pp. 195, 329. 
Aledon Castelnau, Mem. sur Poissons Afrique Aust., 1861, p. 76 (sloreri = mola). 
larval forms. 
Molacanthus Swainsox, Nat. Hist, and Class'n Fishes, etc., IT, 1839, pp. 195, 
329 (pallasi). 
Pallasia, Nardo, Ann. Sci. Regno Lombard., Venet., V, 1840, pp. 10, 112, (pallasi). 
Acanthosoma De Kay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 1842, p. 330 (carbiatum) . 
Centotnts Kaup, Archiv. Naturgesch., I, 1855, p. 221 (hoops). 
Body ovate, strongly compressed, covered with a thick, rough, 
leathery, elastic skin, which is without bony plates. Profile forming 
a projecting fleshy nose above the mou^h. Dorsal fin beginning not 
far behind pectorals, short and high, falcate, confluent with the anal 
around the tail; no large spines on the body. Clumsy fishes, found 
in most warm seas, reaching a great size; the young {Jlo/aan/f/ia.s) 
with the body deeper, much compressed, without trace of caudal fin, 
its place taken by a row of marginal spines. 
{Mola, a millstone.) 
26. MOLA MOLA (Linnaeus). 
Tetrodon mola Linn^us, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1758, pp. 334, 412, Mediterranean; 
after Ostracion catheoplateus suhrotundus A.b.tedi, Genera, 1738, j). 61. 
Ortliagoriscus mola Bloch and Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 1801, p. 510. — Schlegel, 
Fauna Japonica, Poiss., 1847, p. 288, pi. cxxvii, Nagasaki. — Guxthek, Cat. 
Fish., VIII, 1870, p. 317. 
Mola iicaleata Kolreuter, Nov. Comm. Petropo!., X, 1766, ]>. 337, pi. viii, figs. 
2 and 3. 
I 
