26 



United States National Museum has specimens from Wood's Hole, Mass., 



Charleston, S. C, and the Tortugas; it is not recorded from the West 



Indies. The Turbot attains a weight of five or six pounds ; its flesh is 



not unpalatable, and its tough, shagreen-like skin is used for polishing 



purposes. It has a habit of swimming on its side, just at the surface, 



like the Sunfish (Mola rotunda), and, from this habit as well as perhaps 



a fancied similarity of its form to that of the European Turbot (Rhombus 



maximus), its name appears to have been derived. It no doubt breeds 



in these waters; I have seen young individuals not exceeding three 



inches in length. The species should be compared with Batistes sobaco, 



Poey. No other species of this subfamily were observed. 



I suppose the '.'Old-wife," "Ocean-turbot," and "Black-turbot" of the 



fishermen to correspond respectively to Balistes vetula, Linne, Canthider- 



mis niaculatm, (Gmelin) Bleeker, and Mel ichth ys buniva (Lacepede), all of 



which, as well as Balistes ringens, Linne, are quite certain to occur in 



tllGSG Welters 



ALUTEEA SCEIPTA, (Osbeclc) Bleeker. 



Unicornis Piscis Bahamcnsis, Catesuy, Nat. Hist. Carol. Florida, and the Bahama Islands, 



ii, 1743, 19, tab. 19. 

 Balivtcs scriptus, Osbeck, Iter. Sin. 1765, 144. — Gmelin, Linne", Syst. Nat. 1, 1788, 1463. 

 Alutcres seriptus, Bleeker, Ned. Tyds. Dierk. iii, 1865, 28 ; Ichth. 1865, 141, tab. 



ccxxvii, 4. 

 Monacantlius scriptus, Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mns. viii, 1870, 252. 

 Lija Trompa, Parka, Desc. Dif. Piez. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 1787, 46, lam. xxii, f. 1. 

 Balistes Lwvis, Bloch, Ichth. xii, 1797, 63, tab. ccccxiv. — Shaw, Gen. Zocl. v. 1804, 



405. 

 Aluterius Juris, Cuvier, Regne Animal, 1817. — Cantor, Cat. Malayan Fish. 355. — 



Bleeker, Verhandl. Batav. Gen. xxiv (Balistidaj), 21. — Hollard, Ann. Sci. 



Nat. 1855, 15.— Day, Fish. Malabar, 1665, 355. 

 Ahitera hcris, Swalxsox, Nat. Hist. Fish. & Eept. ii, 1839, 327. 

 Aleuieres Jcrris, Richardson*, Voy. H. M. S. Sulphur, 1845, 131, pi. lxi,f. 3. 

 Balistes Afonoceros, var. Paris, Schneider, Bloch, Syst. Ichth. IsOl, 463. 

 Balistes ornaius, Proce, Bull. Philom. 1622, 131. 

 Alutcres pareva, Lesson, Voy. Coquille, ii, 1830, 106. 

 Alutcrus venosus, Hollard, op. cit. 14, pi. 1, f. 3. 

 Ahitera picturata, Poey, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1S63, 183; Rep. Fis.-Nat. Cuba, 



ii, 438. 

 Alcutercs piciuratus, Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, 1870, 476. 



A specimen twenty-one inches long was taken off the islands in April, 

 1S72. The occurrence of the species is so unusual that it has no common 

 name. It appears to be strictly pelagic, and is recorded from China, 

 the Indian Archipelago, Tahiti, New Ireland, Coromandel, the Cana- 

 ries, the West Indies, Brazil, and South Carolina. 



