GYMNODONTES. 273 



Cephalus brevis, Shaw, Zool. v (2) p. 432, pi. clxxv ; Neill, Wem. Mem. i, 

 p. 546 ; Turton, Brit. Fauna, p. 116 ; Mitch. Lit. and Phil. Trans. New Tork, i, 

 p. 471. 



Ozodura orsini and ursini, Ranzani, Nov. Comm. Ac. Sc. Inst. Bonom. iii, 1839, 

 p. 80, t. vi. 



Gephalus ortagorisous, Risso, Eur. Merid. iii, p. 173. 



Tympanomium planci, Ranzani, 1. c. 



DiplancMas nasus, Ranzani, 1. c. 



Trematopsis Willughbii, Ranzani, 1. c. 



Orthragoriscus Itetzii, ghini, Bondeletii, Blochii, and redi, Ranzani, 1. c. 



Orthragorisciis Solaris, Gronov. ed Gray, p. 165. 



Aledon Storeri and capeiisis, Castlenau, Poiss. Afri. Aust. pp. 75, 7Q. 



Mola aspera, Bonap. Peso. Eur. p. 87. 



Mola nasus, and retzii, Steenstrnp and Liitken, Overs. Dansk. Vid. Selsk. 

 Forh. 1863, p. 36 ; F. Wahlgren, Act. Uni. Lund. F. 1867, p. 18, c. fig. 



Orthragoriscus ozodura, Harting, Verh. Ak. Wet. Amst. 1868, p. 1, pi. i-viii. 



Short Sun-fish, c. fig. Embleton, Tyneside Field Club, ii, p. 110. 



Sun-fish, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, iv, p. 377, pi. ccxlv. 



(Young.) 



Mola aculeata, Kolreuter, Nov. Comm. Petr. x, 1766, p. 337, t. viii, f. 2, 3. 



Diodon mola, Pallas, Spio. Zool. Fasc. viii, p. 39, t. iv, f. 7. 



Orthragoriscus hispidus, Bl. Schn p. 611. 



Diodon carinatus, Mitchell, Amer. Lyo. Nat. Hist. New York, ii, p. 264, pi. v, 

 f. 1. 



Acanthosoma spinosus, Cuv. Regne Anim. p. 333 ; Richards. Voy. Snlphur. 

 Fish. p. 125, pi Ixxii, figs. 10-12. 



Ostracion hoops,* Richards. Voy. Erebus and Terror, Fish. p. 52, pi. xxx, 

 f. 18-21 ; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 268 : Putnam, Am. Nat. iv, 1870, p. 629. 



Orthragoriscus aculeatus, Ranzani, 1. c. 



Centaurus hoops, Kaup, Wiegm. Arch. 1855, p. 221. 



Pallasia, Nardo, Ann. Sc. Reg. Lomb. Venet. x, 1840, p. 112. 



Orthagoriscus (on the young of), Liitken, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1871, viii, 

 p. 320. 



B. V. D. 16-18, P. 11-13, V. 15-17, C. 12-16, Vert. 10/7. 



Body compressed, oblong and elevated, appearing posteriorly as if truncated : 

 its height, in large examples, equal to f of its total length, but in the young it is 

 sometimes even higher than long. Head in large specimens 1/3, or rather less in 

 the total length. Uyes — small, situated between the end of the snout and the 

 base of the pectoral fin, in the one figured, which was of large size, it is situated 

 considerably nearer the dorsal than the abdominal profile : a ridge runs from the 

 snout above the eye, which in large specimens develops an osseous tubercle. A 

 species of nictitating membrane, or third lid, exists on its anterior side, and which 

 can be brought all over the eye. Mouth small, jaws feeble, and covered to the 

 margin by a narrow band of enamel. Teeth — supplenaentary teeth inside the 

 ■jaws in the young, but absent in the adult, or after Ij to 2 feet in length. 

 Fins — dorsal and anal narrow, high, more or less pointed, and becoming com- 

 paratively shorter with age. Pectorals short and rounded. Vent situated in a 

 vertical line under the first ray of the dorsal fin. Skin — minutely granulated and 

 rough, in the very young, with conical spines. Colours — of a dull brown or leaden 

 colour, darkest along the back. Couch observes that when lying on its side 

 basking, its colours shine brilliantly. In small ones he has seen beautiful 

 variegations of tints in stripes and blotches of yellow, blue, and white. 



Names. — " This fish is called by Ray and others, the sun-fish,* as being round, 

 and emitting a kind of splendour in a dark room : by others (with Rondeletius) the 



* The young is so dissimilar from the adult that Dr. Giinther asserted of Richardson's figure 

 " it is evidently a young Ostracion," while Gill placed it in a distinct family Molacanthidae. Lijtken, 

 An. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1871, t. viii, p. 320, maintains it to be a young Orlharjoriscus. 



18 



