Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1735 



Ostracion oblongus glaber, ARTEDI, Genera Piscium, genus 60,1738; after CLUSIUS, WILL- 



UGHBY, etc., BALK, Amoen. Acad., i, 591, 1749. 



Orlig Icevis variegatus (the Globe Fish), CATESBY, Nat. Hist. Carolina, pi. 28, 1743, Virginia. 

 Tetraodon testudineus, LINNJEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 332, 1758; based on BALK and ARTEDI. 

 ? Tetrodon punctatus, BLOCK & SCHNEIDEB, Syst. Ichth., 506, 1801, Brazil; POEY, Synopsis, 



432, 1868. 



Tetrodon geometricus, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth., 508, 1801, Virginia ; after CATESBY. 

 Tetrodon ammocryptus, GOSSE, Nat. Sojourn Jamaica, 287, 1851, Jamaica. 

 AncMxomus reticularis (KAUP) RICHARDSON, Voyage Herald, 161, pi. 31, 1854; not Tetrodon 



reticularis, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, which is Tetrodon testudineus, BLOCH, not of 



Holacanthus leionothos, GRONOW, Cat. Fishes, Ed. Gray, 24, 1854, American Ocean. 

 Tetrodon testudineus, GUNTHER, Cat.,vm, 282, 1870; POEY, Enumeratio, 172, 1872; JORDAN 



& GILBERT, Synopsis, 861, 1883. 

 Spheroides testudineus, JORDAN & EDWARDS, I.e., 239; JORDAN & KUTTER, Proc. Ac. Nat. 



Sci. Phila. 1897, 130. 



2151. SPHEROIDES AffNULATTJS * (Jenyns). 



Head 3; depth 4; eye small, 4 to 5 in head. D. 8; A. 7; interorhital 

 space very broad, nearly flat, its width 3 in head, 1 in snout, which is If 

 in head. Body robust, moderately inflatable; the head broad and short; 

 snout short, steep, and nearly straight in profile; caudal subtruncate, If in 

 head; dorsal rather high; pectoral broad, truncate, the lower angle 

 rounded, upper 'parts from nostrils to dorsal covered with small, sharp 

 prickles, closely set ; a few imckles on lower part of cheek and on front 

 of belly ; most of belly smooth with longitudinal wrinkles, the spines 

 embedded in the thick skin ; whole body sometimes entirely smooth (poli- 

 tus) . Caudal peduncle smooth ; upper parts everywhere with small, round, 

 blackish spots, much smaller than pupil, these most conspicuous on sides 

 of body and on sides of head; back dark brown with concentric pale 

 rings and curved streaks or sutures ; a V-shaped mark before dorsal, an 

 ellipse surrounding it extending just before dorsal and behind nape; 2 

 dark, oblique bars on caudal peduncle, with 3 corresponding oblique 

 streaks on head, these markings less distinct in old examples, the dark 



* Concerning this species Dr. Gilhert remarks : 



"8pheroides annulatus is very close to Spheroides testudineus of the tropical Atlantic, dif- 

 fering probably in the somewhat longer snout, the smaller size of the black spots on back 

 and sides, and the weaker development of the spines, which rarely protrude in adults. 

 The only differences which have been alleged to separate politus from annulatus (heraldi) 

 is the greater development of spines in the latter, politus being described as perfectly 

 smooth. The young, however, usually have evident spines; the pits which contain the 

 spines can always be made out in adults, and the spines occasionally protrude, and are 

 evident in specimens differing in.no other respects from others which are perfectly smooth. 

 This is due in part to varying developments of the spines, but is largely attributable 

 to differences in state of preservation and degree of inflation. Young specimens seem 

 always to show the concentric light rings in front of the dorsal fin, and the light cross 

 bars on head and nape, the latter extending downward and backward on sides. The 

 smallest ring is usually connected with the one surrounding it by a median line running 

 forward, and by a cross streak on each side. The dark areas are sometimes solid and uni- 

 form, more frequently covered with small, round, black spots, and sometimes divided by 

 reticulating light-blue lines into small polygonal blotches. The lower part of the sides 

 is marked with large black spots. Larger specimens often have this pattern of colora- 

 tion indistinct, adults showing back and sides almost uniformly covered with small black 

 spots." 



Among our many specimens from Mazatlan we find all ranges of variations, from those 

 wholly without spines to those prickly above and below, both kinds being taken in the 

 same haul of the net. 



