1748 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



CHILOMYCTERUS : 

 aa. Nasal tentacle flattened, divided; fins spotted with black; supraorbital spines 3, 



feeble ; none on forehead. 



e. Supraocular cirrus well developed; upper parts densely covered with small, 

 round, blackish spots ; a large black blotch before and around dorsal ; another ' 

 on each side above gill opening and pectoral ; spines short, compressed an- 

 terior root flat, longer than the others. ATINGA, 2169. 

 ee. Supraocular cirrus wanting; upper parts with short, dark streaks or bars, 

 becoming blotches on the sides. CALIFORNIENSIS, 2170. 



Submenus CYCLICHTHYS, Kaup. 



2165. CHYLOMYCTERUS SCHOEPFI (Walbaum). 

 (COMMON BURR-FISH ; RABBIT-FISH; SWELL-TOAD; SWELLFISH.) 



Head 2f ; depth 3. P. 12; A. 10. Body a little broader than deep at 

 gi]l openings ; interocular space broad, concave ; eyes large, lateral, nearly 

 as long as snout, each with a cirrus above it, longer than pupil; gill open- 

 ing about as wide as eye, opposite upper anterior part of pectoral. About 



9 spines between eye and tail, their height equaling diameter of pupil; 

 spines on belly much smaller, partly embedded in skin; some of the pos- 

 terior with cirri ; spines on caudal peduncle ; anterior root of each spine 

 little if any larger than others. Pectoral fin deeper than long, the margin 

 undulate, the upper lobe longest. Greenish; belly pale; a round, black, 

 ocellated spot above pectorals, not as large as eye, a larger one behind 

 pectorals, another at base of dorsal, with a smaller one below it; back and 

 sides with parallel black stripes of uniform width, about as wide as the 

 interspaces, those on the back running longitudinally, those on sides 

 obliquely downward and backward, those on front of head running cross- 

 wise, a dark bar at base of dorsal ; belly pale in the adult, often black 

 in the young; other fins plain. Length 6 to 10 inches. Cape Cod to 

 Florida; very abundant southward in shallow water; especially numer- 

 ous on the coast of the Carolinas and Florida. The body is capable 

 of considerable inflation, but less than is the case with the Tetraodonts. 

 "This species is readily recognized by the dark and light; lines of the 

 upper parts. The lines are parallel and meet toward the back. A retic- 

 ulation is sometimes formed when these lines meet on the anterior part of 

 the back. In the young there seem to be more lines than in the old. Two 

 specimens examined, 3 inches long, have 17 lines between the pectorals ; a 

 specimen 5 inches long has 10 lines ; and the largest specimen examined, 



10 inches long, has 12 lines." (Eigeninann.) (Named for its discoverer, 

 Dr. Johaun David Schopf, noted as a botanical collector. ) 



The Toadfish, SCHOPF, " Schriften Berlin Gesellsch. Naturf. Freunde, vn, 192, 1788, : ' Long 



Island. 



Diodon schcepfi, WALBAUM, Artedi Pise., 601, 1792, Long Island ; after SCHOPF. 

 f Diodon meulini, WALBAUM, Artedi Pise., 602, 1792, no locality. 

 Diodon geometricus, var. linealus, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth., 513, 1801, New York ; 



after SCHOPF. 



Diodon maculostriatus, MITCHILL, Fish. N. T M 470, pi. 56, fig. 3, 1814, New York. 

 Diodon rivulatus, CUVIER, Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat., iv, 129, pi. 6, 1818, New York ; after 



MITCHILL. 



