482 FISHES. ACANTIIOPTERYGII. 



Gen. 134. ASPISURUS, Lacep. Cficetodon, Lin. 

 Body compressed, higher than broad; snout projecting ; mouth 

 small ; teeth crenated ; dorsal fin covered with small scales ; 

 a hard plate on each side of the tail. 



A. Sohal, Cuv. Body ovate, dusky, with longitudinal violet streaks ; 

 abdomen whitish ; fins violet-coloured ; pectoral fins with a yel- 

 low spot ; tail lunated, with a carinated plate on each side. 15 

 inches long. Inhabits Red Sea Shaw. iv. 382. 



Gen. 135. PRIONURUS, Lacep. 



Body compressed ; teeth crenated, with many spines on each side 

 of the tail. 



P. microlepidotus, Lacep. Opening of the mouth small ; body sil- 

 very, with nine transverse waved irregular bands of a bluish black 

 colour ; fins transparent, and bluish white. Inhabits seas of New 

 Holland An. Mus. iv. 205. 



Gen. 136. NASEUS, Lacep. Monoceros, Will. 

 Body and tail covered with a rough shagreened skin; teeth 

 crowded and in a single row ; a protuberance in the form of 

 a horn on the nose ; two plates or shields on each side of the 

 extremity of the tail. 



N. unicornis, Lacep. Body gray brown, deep, compressed, with a 

 strong conical horn-shaped process extending from the forehead ; 

 two plates on each side the tail. 3 feet long. Inhabits Indian 

 seas. Shaw, iv. pi. 50. 



This species is found in large shoals in the Arabian seas ; and Forskal relates that 

 he saw an eagle dart among a crowd of these fishes, and, happening to seize two at 

 once in his claws, was, in consequence of their sudden and violent separation, torn 

 asunder and destroyed. 



FAMILY VI. SQUAMIPENNES. 



Scales encrusting the soft part of the dorsal and anal fins, and 

 often a portion of the spinous part. 



1. Teeth crowded, like hairs or bristles. 



Gen. 137. CH^TODON, Cuv. 



Body much compressed, oval, high vertically ; dorsal and anal 

 fins covered with scales ; teeth crowded, bristly ; dorsal spines 

 nearly equal ; no dentations or spines on the operculi. 



C. siriatus, Bloch. Body ovate, yellowish on the back and whitish 

 towards the belly, with four distant brown bands, and narrow lon- 

 gitudinal dusky streaks ; tail rounded ; thirteen spines in the dor- 

 sal fin. Inhabits Indian and American seas Bloch, pi. 205, fig. 1. 



C. unimaculatus, Bloch. Head small, with a black band passing 

 over the eye; back gray; sides white, with transverse yellow lines; 

 fins yellowish ; a round black spot on the lateral line ; thirteen 

 spines in the dorsal fin. Indian seas Bloch, pi. 201, fig- 1. 



