THE SUN-FISH. 459 



ventral fins are usually absent. They are inhabitants of warm 

 waters. The trunk-fish or box-fish, Lactophrys trigonus 

 Poey, is a West Indian fish ; one specimen has appeared at 

 Holmes' Hole, Mass. The porcupine - fish (CMlichthys 

 turgidus Gill) and smooth puffer (Tetrodon Icevigatus Gill) 

 and the spring box-fish (Chilomycterus geometricus Kaup) 



Fig. 417. Sun-fish, Mola rotunda, one eighteenth natural size. After Putnam. 



range from Cape Cod to Florida. The sun-fish (Mola ro- 

 tunda Cuvier, Fig. 417) is, like the others of the order, a 

 surf ace - swimmer. It is sometimes a metre or more in 

 length, weighing five hundred pounds or more. Allied 

 forms are Orthagoriscus oblongus (Fig. 418) and the globe- 



