402 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vot. 48 
genus of the family and the other on account of the venomous 
exudations its species emit. 
BATRACHOIDES 
The genus Batrachoides, the name-giver of the family, is separated 
from the others by the scaly body and none of its species ascend to 
such high latitudes as some of Opsanus and Porichthys. The typical 
species, B. didactylus, is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean sea ‘and 
the nearby Atlantic coasts, although occasionally wanderers have 
Fic. 114.—European toadfish (Batrachoides didactylus). After Smitt. 
been found far away. Two species live along the American coasts ; 
one (B. surinamensis) occurs in the Caribbean Sea and another (B. 
pacifict) along the coast of Panama and in neighboring waters. 
‘Other species are found in the tropical waters of the old world. 
Little is known of the habits of any of them. Even for the Euro- 
pean form Smitt was forced to supply information respecting the 
genus from data gathered about the common American toadfish 
rather than from European sources. 
THALASSOPHRYNE 
The genus Thalassophryne has a scaleless skin with only a single 
lateral line, head moderate and cuboidal, opercles very small and 
extended backwards into single strong hollowed spines, subopercles 
spineless, and the first dorsal with two hollowed spines. The 
hollowed opercular and dorsal spines are connected with spe- 
cial glands at their bases. The species of Thalassophryne have 
a distinctly developed poison apparatus, to some extent analo- 
gous to that of the weevers, first elucidated by A. Gunther 
(1864). As just noted, there are hollowed spines to the oper- 
cle as well as to the dorsal fin. “ The operculum is very narrow, 
vertically styliform, and very mobile; it is armed behind with 
——— 
