EUROPEAN FILE-FISH. 857 



PLECTOGNATHL BALISTWAI* 



es--3?«*. 



THE EUROPEAN FILE-FISH. 



Batistes capriscus, Cuvier, Regne An. t. iii. p. 372. 

 Capriscus Rondeletii, Pesce Balestra, Willughby, p. 152,1. 19. 

 Balistes maculatus, File-fish, Block, pt. v. pi. 151 ? 



Generic Characters. — Body compressed, covered with hard rhomboidal im- 

 bedded plates, which are not imbricated like scales ; two dorsal fins, the first 

 containing spines only, the second long ; mouth with incisor-like cutting teeth 

 in each jaw. 



The only example of this genus which has occurred in the 

 English seas, that I am aware of, was taken off the Sussex 

 coast in the month of August 18^7 ; and the circumstance 

 was made known by J. G. Children, Esq. who obtained the 

 specimen, and who recorded this interesting capture in his 

 address delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Zoolo- 

 gical Club of the Linnean Society on the 29th of November 

 of the same year. The specimen was exhibited. 



This fish has since been deposited in the national collec- 

 tion at the British Museum ; and by the kindness of the 

 officers of the natural history department of that establish- 



* The family of the File-fishes. 



