GYMNODONTES. 271 



Tetrodon lagoceplialus, Linn. Amcen. Acad, i, p. 310, t. xiii, f. 4, and Sjst. 

 Nat. i, p. 410 ; Block, Ich. iv, p. 954, pi. cxl ; Gmel. Linn. p. 1444 ; Giinther, 

 Catal. viii, p. 273. 



Tetrodon stellatus, Donovan, Brit. Fish, iii, pi. lxvi ; Tnrton, Brit. Fauna, 

 p. 116 ; Flem. Brit. An. p. 174 ; Jenyns, Manual, p. 489 ; Thompson, Nat. Hist. 

 Ireland, iv, p. 243. 



Tetrodon curvus, Mitchell, Fish. New York, p. 472. 



Lagoceplialus Pennantii, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 328 ; Bonap. Faun. Ital. iii, 

 t. f . 2 ; Canestrini, Faun. Ital. p. 147. 



Tetrodon Pennantii, Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (ed. 1) ii, p. 347, c. fig. (ed. 2) ii, 

 p. 457 (ed. 3) ii, p. 426 ; White, Catal. p. 116. 



Promecocephalus lagoceplialus, Bibron, Mis. p. 108 ; Moreau, Poiss. de la 

 France, ii, p. 72. 



Pennant's Globe Fish, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, iv, p. 373, pi. ccxliv. 



D. 12-14, P. 14-15, A. 12-14, C. 12. 



Length of head 4<\ to 4|, of caudal fin 5|- in the total length. Eyes — partly 

 situated in the hind half of the head. Nasal organs distinct, situated in a 

 prominent papilla, in which one is at each end. Back broad and not compressed. 

 Teeth — the beak or jaws divided by a median suture. Fins — the dorsal and 

 anal in the posterior half of the total length, and placed opposite one another. 

 Pectoral two-thirds as long as the head. Caudal somewhat forked. A distinct 

 fold of skin along the side of the tail. Under surface of throat and abdomen 

 covered with four-rooted fixed spines placed at a short distance apart, otherwise 

 the body is unarmed. Colour — of a deep steel blue along the back and upper 

 third of the body, silvery white on the sides and beneath : sometimes there are 

 round dark spots. Fins unspotted. The young have eight or nine cross bands, 

 and usually black spots on the abdominal surface. 



Names. — Globe-fish, from its being able to distend itself into a globular form : 

 Stellated globe-fish, due to its spinate dermal armature. Crop-fish, due to the 

 distension of its assophagus. Heulbysg crothog, Welsh. 



Habits. — Those of the tetrodon in British waters have not been observed, as it 

 is very rare, but in tropical countries where it is common, it distends its crop and 

 floats securely on the surface of the waves, while should it be assailed by an enemy 

 it turns towards such that portion of its body which possesses a spinate covering. 



Habitat. — Coasts of Britain and also of East Africa, but is very rare in 

 European seas. 



Two have been recorded from the Orkneys (Baikie, Zool. 1853, p. 3847) : 

 a stuffed one 13 inches in length was in the Aberdeen University Museum, in 

 May, 1881. 1859, August, a specimen 20| inches long was left by the tide in 

 the Solent (Penny, Zool. xvi, 1860, p. 6892) : the first British example recorded 

 was from Penzance, and 1 foot in length (Pennant) : October 26, 1867, one 

 19 inches long was taken near Truro in Cornwall : an example from Mount's Bay 

 was recorded by Boase (P. Z. S. 1833, p. 115) : October 26, 1868, one 19 inches 

 long was taken at Penzance (Zool. p. 1484). One 17| inches long from Char- 

 mouth in Dorsetshire is in the British Museum, and an example 15 inches long 

 is in the museum of Weston-super-Mare, and may be a local one. At Amroth, 

 near Tenby, Mr. Loch says that one was taken lately (Land and Water, Oct. 26). 

 Couch tells us, without mentioning the years, that one has been taken near 

 Polperro, and several in Mount's Bay, two being captured there within a month, 

 one 22^ inches long on August 27, the other on Sept. 17, while on the 29th of 

 the same month a third was secured at St. Ives. 



Ireland. — County of Waterford from Tranmore Strand by Dr. Stokes (Tem- 

 pleton, Mag. N. Hist. 1837 (2) i, p. 413) : in 1852, Sept. 26, one 21 inches long 

 was washed ashore at Waterford after a N.E. gale (Sargent, Zool. xi, p. 3848) : 

 in 1850 one 18 inches long was recorded from near Wexford (Hopkins, An. and 

 Mag. (2) p. 311) : in December, 1854, one was washed ashore at Ardmore, Co. 

 Wexford, but smaller than the example in 1852 (E. Sargent). 



The figure is from the Charmouth specimen in the National Collection. 



