616 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



three-angled, instead of four-sided and four-angled, as in 

 Ostracion. Though this character is a striking one it 

 is not one of high structural importance. Hollard and Bleeker 

 have discarded it as being of no real systematic value. All 

 writers agree that the species of the group are most closely 

 related, and that the relations of the species are closer than 

 they appear. We think, with Dr Goode, that the shape of the 

 carapace affords "the most reliable guide in the arrangement 

 of the species of the genus," and we think it not improper to 

 accord generic distinction to the three-angled species, as dis- 

 tinct from the more specialized four-angled forms. Jordan and 

 Evermwm. 



298 Lactophrys trigonus (Linnaeus) 



Subgenus LACTOPHRYS 

 * Trunkfish; Cuckold 



Ostracium trigonus LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. X, 330, 1758. 



Ostracium trigonwni JOEDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 853, 



1883. 



Ostracion trigonus GUNTHEB, Cat, Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 256, 1870. 

 Ostracion yalei STOEEE, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. I, 353, pi. 8, 1837, Holmes 



Hole, Marthas Vineyard. 

 Lactophrys yalei DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 342, 1842, after STOEER; 



STOEEE, Mem. Am. Ac. VIII, 429, pi. 35, fig. 3, 1861. 

 Lactophrys trigonus POEY, Memorias, II, 362, 1861; BEAN, Bull. Am. Mus. 



Nat. Hist. IX, 369, 1897; JOEDAN & EVEEMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. 

 - Mus. 1723, 1898, pi. OCLXIII, fig,. 641, 641a, 1900; H. M. SMITH, Bull. 



U. S. F. C. 1897, 104, 1898. 



Body three-angled and with greatly compressed, thin edges; 

 the greatest height one half of total length without the caudal. 

 The caudal peduncle long and slender, its least depth three 

 fourths diameter of eye. Each ventral ridge with a large, flat 

 spine; no spine in front of eyes. Dorsal ridge high, greatly 

 compressed, descending rapidly forward to opposite posterior 

 margin of orbit and backward to caudal peduncle; carapace 

 open behind the dorsal fin. Eye one third as long as the head; 

 a pronounced supraoccipital ridge, the interorbital space exceed- 

 ing diameter of eye. Dorsal base five sixths as long as the 

 eye; longest dorsal ray one half as long as head. Anal farther 

 back than dorsal and somewhat smaller. Length of gill open- 

 ing not equal to eye. 



D. 10; A. 10; P. 12. 



