ON BALISTES VETULA Linne. 



BY S. GARMAN. 



A HANDSOME specimen of this fish was taken at Wood's 

 Holl, Mass., about the first of October and forwarded to 

 Prof. Alex. Agassiz by Messrs. Geo. B. Appleton & Co. 

 of Boston, the well-known dealers in fishing tackle. It 

 is seldom this species of "trigger fish" is ta'ken so far 

 north, though it is common enough around Florida and the 

 West Indies. The total length of the example in hand 

 was nineteen inches, or fourteen excluding the caudal fin. 

 The greatest height was nine and one-fifth inches, or with- 

 out the dorsal fin seven and a half. In thickness at the 

 middle of the body it was a little more than two and a half 

 inches. It was evidently in very good condition, its great 

 distance from its proper home notwithstanding. The for- 

 mula for fins and scales stands thus : 



D. 3 + 31 ; A. 29 ; V. 22 ; F. 16 ; C. f ; L.I. 64. 



The filamentary prolongations of the anterior rays ot 

 the second dorsal and of the upper and of the lower rays 

 of the caudal are only moderately long, those of the cau- 

 dal, however, being longer than the fin itself. 



The colors on this fish are darker than on others from 

 St. Thomas. The scales are not so dark as the skin be- 

 tween them. On the back and on the top of the head the 

 brown is very dark, as, also, on the fins ; it grows lighter 

 on the flanks, to light below the chest and throat. The 

 blue markings are vivid but not as numerous as on younger 



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