EASTMAN: DESCRIPTIONS OF BOLCA FISHES. 35 



possible. Agassiz's sole description consists in the statement that it is " une 

 espece de trois pouces de long, remarquable par sa forme ovale et par ses 

 piquants courts, robustes et assez clair-semes." Of the type-specimen, now 

 preserved in the British Museitm, Dr. Woodward states that it is exposed 

 from the ventral aspect, has the dentition much obscured, and " no fins are 

 seen except part of the caudal. The largest and most slender spines are at the 

 sides of the middle of the trunk." 



The type-specimen has never been figured, and the species is so little known 

 that it seems desirable to furnish an illustration of a specimen closely resem- 

 bling the type, which has recently been secured by the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology. This is shown from the ventral aspect in the adjoining text-figure 4, 

 and it will be seen that scarcely any differences are to be noted between it and 

 the so-called " Enneodon echinus " of Heckel, In the latter, according to this 

 author, " der Oberkiefer ist mit sieben kleinen Zahnplatten besetzt, die gleich 

 einer Reihe flacher Schneideziihne dicht an einander stehen." There are some 

 obscure indications that separate teeth were also present around the margin of 

 the upper jaw in Diodon erinaceus, but as this cannot be absolutely demon- 

 strated at present, it is not deemed advisable to unite these two species. The 

 lower dental plate is well shown from the inferior aspect in the Cambridge 

 specimen, and does not appear to have been divided by a median longitudinal 

 suture. Pelvic fins are not observable, nor has the writer been able to detect 

 them in any .specimen of D. tenuispimis from Monte Bolca thus far examined 

 by him. An example of this species so closely resembling the type as to 

 have been confused with it by some writers is treasured amongst the splendid 

 collection belonging to the Paris Museum of Natural History. For the excep- 

 tional favors and facilities enjoyed at the hands of M. Albert Gaudry and 

 M. Biiule during his study of this collection the past year, the writer finds it 

 dilticult to express his deep sense of obligation and gratitude. 



