236 FISHES. 



In some of them the pelvic bone is very moveable, and is connected 

 with the abdomen by a sort of extensible dewlap; strong spines are fre- 

 quently observed on the sides of their tail* 



Others are distinguished by the sides of their tail being bristled with 

 stiff setae f. 



Some, because their body is completely covered with small pediculated 

 tubercles;};. 



Others, again, because that same part is furnished with slender and 

 frequently branched cilia §. 



A fifth kind have none of these various characters ||. 



Aluteres, Cuv., 



Have an elongated body covered with small and scarcely visible granules; 

 a single spine is the first dorsal; the chief character is in the pelvis, 

 which is completely hidden under the skin, and is without that spinous 

 projection observed in the other Balistes ^[. 



Triacanthus, Cuv., 



Are distinguished from all other Balistes, by a kind of ventrals, each of 

 which is supported by a single large spinous ray, adhering to a non-salient 

 pelvis. The first dorsal has three or four small spines behind a very large 

 one. The skin is crowded with small scales, and the tail is longer than 

 in the other subgenera. 



But a single species is known; it inhabits the Indian Ocean**. 



Ostracion, Lin. 



The Coffres have the head and body covered with regular bony plates 

 instead of scales, soldered in such a manner as to form a sort of inflexible 

 shield, which invests them, so that the only moveable parts are the tail, 

 fins, mouth, and a sort of small lip with which the edge of their gills is 

 furnished, all passing through holes in this coat of mail. The greater 

 number of their vertebrae are also soldered together, and each of their 



* Balistes chinensis, Bl. 152, 1; — Bal. tomentosus, Id. 14S, which is not that of 

 Linnaeus, but the Pira aca, Marcgr. 154; — Bal. japonicus, Tiles., Mem. Soc. Moscow, 

 vol. II, pi. 13; — Bal. pelleon, Quoy and Gaym., Zool. de Freycin. pi. 45, f. 3; — Bal. 

 geographicus, Per., Cuv., Regn. Animal, pi. ix, f. 2. 



f Bal. tomentosus, L., Seb. Ill, xxiv, f. 18, Gronov., Mus. VI, f. 5; — B. a brosset, 

 Bal. scopas, Commers., Lacep. I, xviii, 3, agreeing with the description given by Lin- 

 naeus of the hispidus, but neither with the character nor figure quoted by Seba. 



X Bal. papillusus, Schn., White, p. 254. 



§ Bal. pe7iicilligcrus, Peron., Cuv., K,egne Animal, pi. ix, f. 3; — Bal. villosus, 

 Ehrenb. 



|| Bal. hispidus, L., Seb. Ill, xxxiv, 2;— Bal. longirostris, Schn., Seb. Ill, xxiv, 

 19; — Bal. papillosus, L. ? Lacep. I, xvii, 3, under the name of monoceros, Clus., 

 Exot., lib. VI, cap. xxviii; — Bal. villosus, Cuv.; — Bal. guttatus, Id. 



% Bal. 7twnoceros, L. ; Catesb. 19; — the monoceros of Bl., which is different, 147; — 

 Bal. Icevis, Bl. 414; — Acaramucu, Marcgr. 163, also differing from the three preceding 

 ones; — Bal. Kleinii, Misc. Ill, pi. iii, f. 2; — Al. cryplacaulhus, Cuv., Ren. II, part of 

 pi. xlii, f. 284. 



•• Bal. biaculeatus, Bl. 148, 2. 



Numerous species of all these subgenera will be described in our Hist, des Pois- 

 sons. 



