274 PISCES. 



poisonous during the period in which they feed on the coralline Po- 

 lypi; fucus is all that I met with in those I opened. 



Balistes, proper. 



The entire body covered with very hard, large, rhomboidal scales 

 which do not overlap, and have the appearance of compartments 

 of the skin; the first dorsal has three spines, the first of which is 

 much the longest, and the third very small and placed far backj the 

 extremity of the pelvis is always salient and prickly, and behind it 

 are some spines involved in the skin, which, in the long species, have 

 been considered as rays of ventrals. 



Some of them have no peculiar caudal armature, and of these 



again, some have scales behind the gills which are no larger than 



the others. Such is a species that inhabits the Mediterranean, the 



B. caprisctis,lu.', Salv., 207, and Will., I, 19; Pourc, Pesce 



balestra, 8cc. (The Mediterranean File-Fish.) Brownish-grey, 



spotted with blue, or greenish. Its flesh is not esteemed.(l) 



Others, with this unarmed tail, have scales behind the gills which 



are larger than the rest.(2) 



In the greater number, the sides of the tail are armed with a cer- 

 tain number of rows of spines bent forwards, and all those of this 

 division with which we are acquainted, have scales behind the gills 

 larger than the others.(3) 



(1) I suspect the B. maculatus, Bl., 151, is the same as the capriscus. I am 

 even inclined to believe that such is also the case with the B. buniva, Lacep , V, 

 xxi, 1; — Add, Bal. stellaris, Schn., Lacep., I, vi; — Bal, sufflamm, Mitch., VI, 2; — 

 Bal. jellaka, Cuv., Lamayellaka, Russel, I, 22. 



(2) Bal. forcipatus, Will., I, 22; — Bal. vetula, Bl., 150; — Bal. pundatus, Gm., 

 Will., App. y, f. 4; — We might also distinguish the Bal. noir, Lacep., I, xv, re- 

 markable for its upper lateral teeth, which are prolonged into canini, aad for the 

 great forks of its tail. N.B. The B. niger, Schn., does not differ from the Rin- 

 gens; — Bal. fusciis, Schn., or B. grandes laches, Lacep., I, 373, remarkable for its 

 naked cheeks furnished with rows of tubercles. 



(3) Species with two or three rows of spines. Bal. Imeatus, Schn., 87, Re- 

 nard, 217, or B. lamouroux, Q,uoy and Gaym., Voy. Freycin., pi. 47, f. 1? Bal. 

 cendrd, Lacep., I, xvli, 2, or B. arcuatus, Schn., Journ. de Phys., Juillet, 1774. 



Species with three rows. Bal. aculealus, L., IJl., 149, Lac, I, xvii, 1, Renard, 

 I, 28, f. 154, and II, 28, f. 136;— 5a/. verrucosus, L., Mus. Ad. Fred., XXVII, 57, 

 the same as B. pradin, Lacep., I, 335, and the B. viridis, Schn. 



Species with four or five rows. Bad. echarpe, Lacep., I, xvi, 1, or Bal- rectan- 

 gulus, Schn., or Bal. medinilla, Quoy and Gaym., Zool., de Freycin., pi. 46, f. 

 2; — Bal. conspicilluin, Schn., Renard, I, 15, f. 88, and Lacep., I, xvi, 3, under the 

 improper name oi Baliste americain — it is from the Indian Ocean; — B. viridescens, 

 Schn., or verddtre, Lacep., I, xvi, 3. 



