FAMILY, II— GTMNODONTBS. 699 



A. — Jaws with a med/ioM sutwre. 

 Genus, 2 — Xenoptbeus (Bihron), Diimeril. 

 Chonerhinus, Bleeker. 



BrcmoMostegals five. Bach rownded : jaws divided hy a median suture. Nostrils funnel shaped with fringed 

 mwrgins. Dorsal and anal fins with mawy rays (23 to 38). Parts of the hody covered with -fine dermal sjpimes, 

 ha/ving double or treble roots. 



These fishes, like the Tetrodons, are able to inflate their bodies with air and float on the water, abdomen 

 uppermost. They ascend large rivers, far above tidal influence. In some parts of Burma they are eaten, but 

 their bites are dreaded, and the Burmese assert that where they abound should anyone fall into the water they 

 attack him in droves, and almost immediately cause death by biting pieces out of his body. They readily take 

 a bait either of a piece of meat or a small fish. 



Xenopterus naritus, Plate CLXXXII, fig. 1. 



Tetraodon naritus, Eichardson, Yoy. Samarang, Fish. p. 18, pi. viii (adult) ; Cantor, Mai. Pish. p. 383, 

 pi. X (young) ; Bleeker, Blootk. p. 21, and Borneo, p. 439. 



Tetrodon grandispina, Van der Hoeven, Handb. Dierk. 2nd Edit, ii, p. 275. 



Xenopterus Bellangeri (Bibron), Dumdril, Rev. Zool. 1855, p. 281. 



Chonerhinus na/ritus, Bleeker, En. Pise. Arch. Ind. p. 202, and Atl. Ich. v, p. 77, t. ccxi, f. 2 ; Blyth, 

 J. A. S. of Beng. 1860, p. 173. 



Xenopterus naritus, Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 271. 



B. V, D. 32-38, P. 19, A. 28-32, 0. 12. 



Length of head rather more than its distance from the base of the dorsal fin. Eyes — rather small : 

 Lnterorbital space broad and flat. Lips thick and fringed. Teeth — the lower a little larger than the upper 

 pair. Fins — the length of the base of the dorsal exceeds the length of the head, it is highest in the middle, but 

 its highest point is not equal to that of the body : anal similar to but rather smaller than the dorsal : caudal 

 slightly emarginate. Spines — with 2 or 3 roots, large, rather widely separated, situated between the eye and 

 base of the pectoral fin, above which they are continued a short distance : also present for a short distance behind 

 that fin and along the abdominal surface nearly as far as the vent. Colours — pale yellow, darkest along the 

 back and in the lower 2/3 of the dorsal fin. 



Habitat. — Through the rivers and estuaries of Burma to the Malay Archipelago. 



Genus, 3 — Teteodon,* Lirmaeus. 



Leisorrms, Lagocephalus, Girrhisomus and Psilonotus, Swainson : Kolacanthus, Gray : Prilonotus and 

 Anchisomus, Kaup : Tropidichthys, Bleeker : Promecocephale, Dilobomyotere, Amblyrhynchote, Geneion, 

 Catophorhyngue, Batrachops, Bhynohote (Bibron) Dumeril : Bhynahotas, Apsicephalus, Brachycephalus, 

 Hollard. 



Bach broad, or compressed into a ridge. Either jaw with a median suture. Should a conspicuous nasal 

 organ exist : there may be two on either side in a papilla (Tetraodon, Bleeker) : or a single tubular one (Grayracion, 

 Bleeker) : or an imperforate one having a fringed edge ajid the body spiny (Ghelonodon, Miiller) : or a simple round 

 cavity and the body smooth (Monotretus, Bib.) : or two imperforate tentacles on either side (Arothron, Miill.) : or the 

 nasal organs may be imconspicuous, and the bach compressed into a heel (Anosmius, Peters). Dorsal and anal fins 

 with few rays. Body wholly or partially covered with fine dermal spines, or such may be absent. There may be a 

 more or less distinct fold along the lower part of the tail, and very apparent nasal organs^ (Gastrophysus, Miill.) : 

 or should the fold be absent, but the body be spinate and the nasal organs very distinct (Gheilichthys, Miill.) : or the 

 fold be absent OMd the shin smooth (Liosaceus, Giinther). A portion of the cesophagus dilatable and able to be 

 distended with air. Air-vessel present and horse-shoe shaped. 



The Tetrodons are termed Kuddul mah-cutchee, or " Sea Progs " by the natives of Malabar, on account 

 of the noise they make when captured : althoagh they are occasionally eaten by the lower classes, they are 

 said to occasion indigestion, so are usually avoided, while all of them emit an odour the reverse of agreeable. 

 The native doctors sometimes prescribe them in cases of lung afiections. The Burmese in some districts 

 consider these fishes to be poisonous, but in other localities they eat them, being very careful to first remove 

 the gall-bladder, which they assert occasions all the poisonous symptoms. The Japanese eat one species as a 

 means of enabling them to commit saicide. The Andamanese eat these fishes, as 1 personally witnessed : they 

 appeared rather to prefer them to some of the better kinds. Hamilton Buchanan observed the fishes of this 

 genus are eaten by the poor, but are considered as indifi"erent food. Bleeker remarked on their poisonous 

 qualities at Batavia, where some species are prohibited from being, sold : he enumerates T. oblongus and 

 T. reticularis as very venomous, T. stellatus as venomous, but says that T. Unans is eaten. Cantor hkewise 



* i'awa, Tel. ; PlacJiee, Tarn. Globe or fug fishes. 



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