THE SUN-FISH. 459 
ventral fins are usually absent. They are inhabitants of warm 
waters. The trunk-fish or box-fish, Lactophrys trigonus 
Poey, is a West Indian fish ; one specimen has appeared at 
Holmes’ Hole, Mass. The porcupine-fish (Chilichthys 
turgidus Gill) and smooth puffer (Tetrodon levigatus Gill) 
and the spring box-fish (Chilomycterus geometricus Kaup) 
Fig. 417.—Sun-fish, Mola rotunda, one eighteenth natural size.—After Putnam. 
range from Cape Cod to Florida. The sun-fish (Mola ro- 
tunda Ouvier, Fig. 417) is, like the others of the order, a 
surface-swimmer. It is sometimes a metre or more in 
length, weighing five hundred pounds or more. Allied 
forms are Orthagoriscus oblongus (Fig. 418) and the globe- 
