358 BALISTID.E. 



ment, I have been permitted to take a drawing and descrip- 

 tion from the specimen caught in our seas. 



The Batistes capriscus is a species well known to the 

 older authors as an inhabitant of the Mediterranean ; is figur- 

 ed by Salvianus ; by Grew, in his Rarities, tab. 7 ; and by 

 Klein, tab. 3. It is, however, rather rare, though stated also 

 to be an inhabitant of other seas. M. Risso says the flesh is 

 tolerably good. 



Baron Cuvier, in the Regne Animal, in part of the first 

 note at the foot of page 372, says in reference to Balistes 

 capriscus) " Je suis meme tente d'y rapporter le B. buniva 

 de Lacepede." Possessing a dried specimen of B. buniva 

 from the Mediterranean, which agrees exactly with the pub- 

 lished descriptions of that species by Lacepede and M. 

 Risso, I have compared it with the specimen of B. capriscus 

 at the British Museum, and feel confident that the B. bu- 

 niva of Lacepede is, as Cuvier suspected, identical with the 

 B. capriscus of authors. 



The first and strongest spine of the back in this fish is 

 studded up the front with numerous small projections, which 

 under the microscope have the appearance of so many points 

 of enamel or pearl arising from the surface of the bone, giv- 

 ing a rough denticulated appearance ; and hence the name of 

 File-fish. The second smaller spine has at the anterior part 

 of the base a projection which, when the spines are elevated, 

 locks into a corresponding depression in the posterior part of 

 the base of the first spine, and fixes it like part of the work 

 in a gun-lock ; and from this similarity this fish on the Ita- 

 lian shores of the Mediterranean is called Pesce balestra. 

 The longest spine cannot be forced down till the shorter 

 spine has been first depressed. 



The length from the nose to the branchial orifice is to the 

 whole length of the fish as one to four ; the depth of the 



