FAMILY BALISTID^ — BALISTES. 339 



Dr. Mitchill has indicated another species of Aluteres from the waters of this State, but his 

 account is too vague to permit us to class it among the establislicd species. To call the atten- 

 tion of ichthyologists to it, I add the few notes he has left on the subject. 



" Balistes angusticauda, Narrow-tailed File-fish. With a considerable gibbosity before 

 " the eyes ; a single horn curved forward, and bending backward at the point ; with a very 

 " prominent flabby belly ; with an isthmus-shaped tail, narrow immediately behind the anal 

 " and dorsal fins, and wider towards the origin of the caudal fin ; with a very projecting 

 " snout and small mouth ; with a white iris, and a skin marked by shades of dark brown over 

 " the whole surface. This character is derived from a drawing of a fish taken at New-York." 

 {Am. Month. Mag. Vol. 2, p. 327.) 



GENUS BALISTES. Cuvier. 



Body covered with hard rhomhoidal scales, not imbricated. Two dorsal fins ; the first com- 

 posed of two or more spines. Mouth ivith sharp teeth. Extremity of the pelvis salient 

 and prickly, and behind it a few rays which are considered as representing the ventrals. 



Obs. One of the subdivisions of this genus, which is so rich in species, has the tail 

 unarmed, and large scales behind the branchial aperture. To this division, which as yet has 

 received no name, belongs the following : 



THE DUSKY BALISTES. 



, Balistes FnLiGiNOsos. 



PLATE LVn. FIG. 183. — (CABIPfET OF THE LYCEUM.) 



Characteristics. Dusky brown, unspotted. Caudal fin doubly emarginate ; a single spine 

 between the first and second dorsals. Length twelve inches. 



Description. Body oblong, elliptical. Back regularly arched ; the facial profile descending 

 obliquely, and slightly curved to the prominent mouth. Depth of the body to its length as 

 one to two nearly ; the length from the snout to the branchial aperture, to the total length, as 

 one to four and a quarter. Body covered with scales, which are rhomboidal, occasionally 

 triangular or of an irregular shape, with their surfaces covered with minute, slightly elevated, 

 rounded tubercles, occasioning a rough feel to the touch ; they are arranged in obliquely 

 decussating series over the whole head and body, and in parallel series along the bases of the 

 dorsal and anal fins, forming a sort of sheath similar to what has been noted among some of 

 the Scienidae. Immediately behind the branchial aperture, and above the base of the pectoral, 

 is a series of four or five unusually large plates, which can scarcely be considered as scales. 

 Eyes large, near the facial outline, and slightly in advance of the first dorsal ray ; the orbit is 

 0'6 in diameter. Nostrils oblong, 0'4 in advance of the orbils, and covered by a membrane. 

 Mouth small. Jaws nearly equal, and covered with thin membranaceous lips. Teeth sixteen 



