Fishes of Massachusetts. 521 
ALUTERES. Cuv. 
Generic characters. An elongated body covered 
with small, and scarcely visible granules ; a single 
spine is the first dorsal; the chief character is in 
the pelvis, which is completely hidden under the 
skin, and is without that spinous projection observed 
in the other Balistes. 
A. monoceros? Bloch. The Unicorn File Fish. 
Shaw's Zoology, vol. v. pt. ii. p. 399, et fig. 
To Dr. Yale I am indebted for the specimen 
before me; I have met with no other individual of 
this species. 
Length, three inches; depth across, from the base 
of the dorsal spine, half an inch; depth at the base 
of the tail, one line. Color, a light brown, mottled 
by a darker brown, which is deepest above; neck, 
silvery. Surface of the fish, almost smooth to 
the touch ; but presenting a granulated appearance 
under the glass. Length of the head, half an inch, 
gradually arching from the tip of the snout to the 
spine; lower jaw slightly projecting; teeth mode- 
rate in "Size. Hye circular ; diameter of the eye, less 
than a line. Just over the posterior margin of the 
orbit of the eye, a slender, roughened spine, one 
fourth of an inch high. # 
The Dorsal fin arises half an inch back of the 
spine ; composed of delicate, anepages, colorless 
rays. à 
VOL. II.—NO. I—IV. 48 
