THE SAND-GOOTOO. 287 



yellowish hue. Could the action of the gizzard 

 have dissolved the lime of the shell, so as to alter its 

 texture thus ? The time when this occurred was 

 about the middle of summer. 



THE SAND-GOOTOO. 



In walking along the smooth sandy beach between 

 Bluefields and the Creek, our attention is attracted 

 by some little Fishes, the largest not exceeding four 

 inches in length, which shoot hither and thither in 

 the shallows close to the water's edge. They are 

 somewhat fearless, and if alarmed do not flee far, and 

 never into the deep water, but frequently seek to 

 hide among the sea-grass, or attempt to bury them- 

 selves in the sand. The negroes call them Sand- 

 Gootoo, to distinguish them from a kind of Scarus, 

 which they designate as Eatable Gootoo ; the former 

 belong to the genus Tetraodon. They have little 

 beauty of form or colour, the upper parts of the body 

 being marked with large sinuous spots of olive on a 

 white ground: the eyes however are brilliant, the 

 irides being golden, tinged with orange, the pupils 

 lustrous green or bkie.* 



* Tetraodon ammocryptus, mihi. ("A/x/xos, sand, KpiirTta, to hide.) 

 The upper jaw most advanced ; the body not compressed ; pectorals 

 rounded ; caudal truncate. There are minute points scattered over 

 the belly, scarcely projecting beyond the surface of the skin; and 

 during life so concealed by the loose, mucous integument as to 

 present not the slightest roughness to the feel : they become obvious, 

 however, after a long immersion in spirit. Lateral line invisible. A 

 minute, erect, horn-like wart in front of each eye. The colours are 

 described in the text. 



