TETRAODONTIDA. — XCI. 169 
openings small, slit-like. Dorsals separate, the first of 1 to 3 
spines; 2d D. and A. long; V. wanting; pubic bone long, movable, 
with sometimes a spine at its end. Genera 8; species 100; car- 
nivorous fishes of the warm seas. 
a, Dorsal spines 3; wis covered with thick, firm scales; pelvis with a blunt 
spine. . . 1. ims +. + « « » BatisrEs, 240. 
aa. Dorsal spine single, or followed iy: a ridimanty skin with minute rough 
shagreen-like scales. 
b. Pubic spine present; gill-slit short, nearly vertical. A. 25 to 35. 
Monacantuus, 241. 
bb. Pubic spine wanting ; gill-slit long, oblique. A. 36 to 50. 
ALUTERA, 242. 
240. BALISTES (Artedi) Linnzus. (add, to shoot; from the 
trigger-like 2d spine of D.) 
a, A groove before eye; larger plates behind gill opening; teeth white; no 
spines on tail. (Balistes.) 
478. B. carolinensis Gmelin. LEATHER-JACKET. TRIGGER- 
Fisu. Soft D. high; C. lobes elongate in adult. Brownish; young 
spotted with darker; 2d D. and A. with interrupted brown streaks; 
C. mottled ; scales on head similar to those on body. Head 3; 
depth 14. D.III-27. A. 25. Lat.1. 51 to 62, L. 18. Warm 
seas, rarely N. to Cape Cod. (Eu.) 
241. MONACANTHUS Cuvier. (jovos, one; Gkavéa, spine.) 
a. Pubic spine movable; ventral flap moderate, not extending beyond it ; 
dorsal spine with retrorse barbs. 
479. M. hispidus (L.). Foot-risn. Fize-risa. No recurved 
spines on tail; first soft ray of D. sometimes filamentous. Dull 
greenish, mottled with darker. Head 32; depthigZ. D. I-82. 
A. 32, L.6. Cape Cod to Cuba, common. (Lat., rough.) 
242. ALUTERA Cuvier. (? dAouros, unwashed.) 
480. A. schepfi (Walbaum). Dull-greenish, marbled with 
darker; D. spine slender, not barbed; C. long in young, shorter 
with age. Head 32; depth 24. D.I, 36. A. 38. L.18. Cape 
Cod to Texas. (To Johann David Schépf, a Hessian surgeon in 
the Revolutionary War, and an excellent naturalist.) 
Famity XCI. TETRAODONTIDA. (THE SWELL-FISHEs.) 
Body oblong, little compressed, the skin naked and usually 
prickly; stomach capable of great inflation; teeth in each jaw con- 
fluent into two, which form a sort of beak; no fin spines; D. oppo- 
site A.; C. distinct ; V. wanting ; P. short ; pelvic bone moderate. 
Gill openings small; air-bladder present. Genera 7; species 70, in 
warm seas. They are noted for their power of swallowing air, by 
