1742 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



tinned on side of tail; adults (according to Poey) with chestnut-colored 

 bands on caudal peduncle and on chin ; dark streaks about eye. A young 

 specimen before us, 2 inches in length, from the Snapper Banks off Pen- 

 sacola, does not show these bars. Upper and lower edges of caudal 

 abruptly jet-black, this color extending as a dark stripe along the median 

 line of caudal peduncle above and below. No cross bands on tail. Belly 

 with conspicuous 2-rooted prickles; some prickles and granulations on 

 the back. West Indies, north, in rather deep water, to the banks off Pen- 

 sacola; also found in the Madeiras and Bermudas, (rostratus, long- 

 snouted.) , 



Tetrodon rostratus, BLOCH, IckthyoJogia, i, pi. 146, 1782, India; GUNTHER, Cat., vm, 303, 

 1870; GOODE, Am. Jour. Sci. Arts 1877, 290; GUNTHER, Shore Fishes, Challenger, 9, 

 1880. 



Tetrodon capistratus, LOWE, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1839, 90, Madeira. 



Prilonotus (Anchisomus) caudicinctus, RICHARDSON, Voyage Herald, 162, pi. 30, figs. 1-3, 

 1854, locality unknown. 



Tetradon ornatus, POEY, Synopsis, 433, 1868, Havana; GUNTHER, Cat., vm, 303, 1870. 



Tetrodon caudicinctus, GUNTHER, Cat., vm, 303, 1870; POEY, Enumeratio, 73, 1875. 



Canthigaster cauditinctus, COPE, Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. 1871, 479. 



Canthig aster rostratus, JORDAN & EDWARDS, I. c., 246. 



Family CLXXIV. DIODONTLLXE.* 



(TriE PORCUPINE FISHES.) 



Body short, broad, depressed above. Belly moderately inflatable, cov- 

 ered everywhere except on the lips and caudal peduncle with spines, 

 which are usually 2-rooted or 3-rooted at their bony base. Caudal pe- 

 duncle short and slender. Mouth moderate, terminal, each jaw covered 

 with a bony plate like the beak of a bird, these not divided by a median 

 suture. Nostrils on each side forming a small tentacle, usually with 2 

 openings. Eye rather large, gill opening moderate, immediately in front 

 of the pectoral, which is short, broad, and rounded. Dorsal and anal fins 

 short, similar to each other, rounded in form and placed posteriorly. 

 Genera about 6; species 15. Sluggish fishes, living on the bottom among 

 weeds and corals, in tropical seas. When disturbed, they swallow air and 

 float belly upward on the water. Their capacity of inflation is very 

 much less than that of the Tetraodontidw, from which family they differ 

 chiefly in the stronger armature and in having no division in the bony 

 plate of either jaw. They are rarely used as food, being generally 

 regarded as poisonous. The species are mostly well known in collections, 

 the singular form having attracted the attention of travelers in the ear- 

 liest times. (Tetrodoniidce, part, Gilnther, Cat., vm ; 306-316, 1870.) 



a. Dermal ossifications very small, each one 2-rooted, with a fine flexible spine or hair 



like bristle. Nasal tentacles present. TRICHODIODON, 682, 



aa. Dermal ossifications mostly 2-rooted ; the spines rather slender, but stiff and erectile. 



Nasal tentacle simple, with 2 lateral openings. DIODON, 683 



1 Ac^cf I 5 ^ Genera aml S P ecie8 of Dtodontidce found in American 



