1724 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



fin. Olive gray ; a very faint blue spot in the center of each of most of the 

 scales; nostril in a yellow spot; boundaries of upper scutes blackish, of 

 lower bluish ; outlines of various scutes behind gill opening black, form- 

 ing a dusky area, especially distinct in the young ; a similar smaller dusky 

 area on side on level of eye; iris yellow; fins all pale olive; vent yellow; 

 belly light olive, outlines of the scutes bluish ; base of pectorals yellowish. 

 Length about a foot. West Indies ; very common as far north as Bermuda 

 and Key West, occasionally northward in the Gulf Stream (Holmes Hole, 

 Mass., Storer; Woods Hole; Chesapeake Bay, Lugger). All 4 of our spe- 

 cies occur in the harbor of Para", in Brazil. This species and others are 

 said to utter grunting sounds. (Tpetg, three; yovo$, angle.) 



Ostracion triangulatus lenibis figurararum hexagonarum eminentibus, etc., ABTEDI, Gen- 



era, 50, 1738, Jamaica; seen by Artecli in the collection of Sir Hans Sloane and in 



the Nagg's Head Inn, London. 

 Ostradum, trigonus, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 330, 1758, India ; after ARTEDI; GUNTHER, 



Cat., viii. 256, 1870 ; GOODE, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 276. 

 Ostracion yalei, STORER, Boat. Journ. Nat. Hist., I, 1837, 353, Holmes Hole, on Marthas 



Vineyard. 

 Lactophrys oviceps, KAUP, Archiv Naturg. 1855,218; specimens with 10 dorsal rays, Lin- 



naeus having given by error "D. 14 " in the original description of O. trigonus. 

 Ostracion undulatus, POEY, Synopsis, 441, 1868, Havana. 

 Ostracion expansum, COPE, Trans. Ain. Phil. Soc. 1870, 474, figs. 9-10, St. Martins, West 



Indies. 



Lactophrys trigonus, POEY, Memorias, n, 362, 1861. 

 Ostradum trigonum, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 853, 1883. 



Subgenus ACANTHOSTRACION, Sleeker. 

 2142. LACTOPHRYS TRICORNIS (Linnaeus). 



(CUCKOLD; TORO ; COW-FISH.) 



Head 4f ; depth 2. D. 10; A. 10. Carapace trigonal; adults with a 

 broad low ridge on each side of the back, the dorsal ridge more elevated 

 than in the young, which are somewhat tetragonal. Ventral surface 

 nearly flat ; angles of body carinate ; a stout spine directed forward over 

 each eye; abdominal spines flat, directed backward; a median dorsal 

 spine said to be sometimes present, never persistent, none in our speci- 

 mens; bridges behind dorsal and anal each ending in a flat spine; caudal 

 peduncle with or without a free plate * above or below; carapace closed 

 behind dorsal fin. Color brown, yellow, blue, or green, with irregular 

 blue blotches, the centers of the scutes often lighter than the margins. 

 Young, light gray, tinged with olive ; belly white ; head and carapace with 

 round spots of rather light blue, these sometimes forming more or less inter- 

 rupted longitudinal stripes; about 4 of these stripes on cheek; tail above 

 with blue, brown-edged spots ; dorsal olive, its base blackish ; caudal olive, 

 edged and mottled with light blue ; anal similar; pectorals olive. Length 

 18 inches. Tropical parts of the Atlantic ; very common from Carolina to 

 Brazil, ranging northward in the Gulf Stream to Charleston (Goode) and 

 Chesapeake Bay (Lugger) ; occasional about the shores of the Gulf of 



* "Out of 14 specimens examined 5 had plates above and below, 1 had 2 above, and 6 

 had none. " (Goode.) 



