FAMILY GYMNODONTID^ TETRAODON. 329 



This description of Dr. Mitchill, which is unfortunately too concise, seems to announce a 

 new species, and as such I have introduced it here. I have never seen a specimen, but have 

 been accustomed to regard it as being possibly the young of the following species. This 

 doubt can only be cleared up by a minute and more careful examination. 



THE LINEATED PUFFER. 



Tetraodon l4;vigatds. 

 plate lvi. fig. 162. — (cabinet of the lyceum.) 



T. Iccvigatus. LiNNECS, Syst. p. 411. 



Lc Lisse. BoNNATEKEE, Encycl. Method, p. 24, pi. IG, fig. 52 (bad.) 



T. licvigauis, Rabbit-fish. Schcepff, Schriften der Naturf. Vol. 8, p. 189. 



Tamboril Parra, Des. diff. piezas, &c. p. 37, pi. 19. 



T. lavigatus. Brown Globe-fish. MiTCHILL, Report, &c. on the Fishes of New-York, p. 28. 



T. malhematicus, Mathematical Telrodon. Id. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 474, pi. 0, fig. 6. 



Characteristics. Olive-green above. Belly only furnished with sharp prickles. The upper 

 part of the body with series of mucous pores, forming numerous lines. 

 Length one to iwio feet. 



Description. Body elongated, cylindrical, tumid in front, and gradually tapering behind. 

 Abdomen pendulous. Summit of the head, between the eyes, plane ; facial line descending 

 to the jaws with a gentle slope. Many series of mucous pores above. One series on each 

 side, curving under the orbits, and passing through the nostrils, (in the figure, this is inaccu- 

 rately represented ;) from the posterior part of this circle, on each side, proceed two others ; 

 the superior ending abruptly on a transverse row above the base of the pectorals ; the other 

 passes along the back, on each side, with a broad convex curve, descending to the space be- 

 tween the dorsal and anal, and then going off straight through the centre of the tail. Head 

 not distinct from the body. Teeth remarkably robust, acute, and contiguous in front above, 

 separated at the base. Eyes large, longitudinally oval, near the facial outline, with prominent 

 orbits. Nostrils double, contiguous ; the posterior with a filament. Lips fleshy and thick. 

 Branchial aperture crescent-shaped, and just anterior to the pectoral fin. All above, and on 

 the sides, smooth ; chin and throat smooth. Abdomen, for an area which extends to within 

 two and a half inches from the anal, and ascending up to the inferior part of the base of the 

 pectorals, armed with spines. These spines or prickles are a tenth of an inch long, directed 

 backwards, and trifid at the base ; they are arranged in rather regular transverse series, and 

 when the abdomen is distended, are about four-tenths of an inch apart. 



The dorsal fin irregularly trapezoidal, emarginate above, and arises 13 '0 from the end of 

 the jaws. It contains fourteen rays, of which the first is very robust, the second 2*8 high; 

 they then rapidly diminish to the eighth, after which they very gradually decrease in length. 

 Pectorals short, broad, excavated behind, with seventeen rays. The upper ray 1 • 8 long ; 

 the ninth, tenth, and eleventh shortest. Anal similar in shape and size to the dorsal, under 



Fauna — Part 4. 42 



