o02 A Review of American Diodontidce. 



Diodon quadrimaculcUus Cuvier, Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat., IV. 187. plate o, 1818 

 (Otaiti). Bleeker, Enum. Pise. Arch. Ind., 203, 1859 (Amboina). 

 Id., "Act. Soc. Sci. Iudo. Neerl.. II, Amboina. VIII. 94." 



Diodon mvttimaculatus Cuvier, Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat., IV, 186, 1818. Id., 

 Kegne Animal, 836 (note \ 18*29. Kaup, •'Arch. Naturgesch., XXI, 

 I, 227," 1855, 



Paradiodon sp. dubia Poey, Syn. Pise. Cub., 431, 1808 i " Comparese con el 

 D. pilosus de Mitchill "). 



Diodon maculatus var. y & 5, Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., VIII, 308 (Am- 

 boina ; West Indies ; Cape Good Hope ; Bourbon ; Formosa). 



Diodon maculatus Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus , VII, 43 (Lower Call). 



Ill the foregoing synonymy, several references are of course 

 doubtful, on account of the confusion in authors of the young of 

 D. Iiystrix with the adult of the variety liolacanthus. 



The Diodon atinga of Linnaeus is certainly a Cfiilomycterux, 

 probably Gh. jaculifer of Giinther, but the species so called by 

 Bloch and those following him is the Iiystrix of Linnaeus. 



Diodon brachiatus of Bloch & Schneider is based upon Parra, 

 tab. 29, fig. 1 ; this plate represents D. Iiystrix. 



The figure of D iodon pilosus, given by DeKay. is apparently 

 a young hystrix ; the pilosus of Mitchill is perhaps the young 

 of holocanthus, or possibly of some species still unrecognized, 

 with very slender spines. 



Under the head of Diodon maculatus, Dr. Giinther includes 

 the true liolacanthus and also the young of Iiystrix. The mark- 

 ings of the body are the same in both, and in one young speci- 

 men examined (141) the small round spots characteristic of the 

 adult of Iiystrix were seen within the round black blotches which 

 had faded somewhat. 



The specimens before me are from Havana, Saint Thomas and 

 Lower California. 



As shown by the evidence at my disposal, the form or variety 

 or species, Diodon liolacanthus differs from D. Iiystrix in having 

 the frontal spines as long as the post-pectoral spines, and in 

 having all of its spines long and similar in form : all without any 

 anterior root. 



The liolacanthus of Linnaeus is based upon a description of 

 Artedi. As this description fits this form rather than the Iiys- 

 trix, I have substituted the name liolacanthus for the liturosus 

 of Shaw and the maculatus of Giinther. Shaw based his name 



