278 Mr. Anpre’s Defcription of the 
f 
Or THE CHE TODON NIGRICANS 
The individual which furnifhed the following account was 
brought from the Weft Indies, and meafured about five inches 
in length*. Its teeth (the only parts I mean to defcribe) 
were fo fmall as to require the afliftance of a microfcope to 
difcover their real fhape. There were fourteen teeth in each 
jaw, feven of which from the upper one are reprefented 
tab. XII. They confift of a cylindrical body fixed in 
the jaw, above which they fpread out into a broad and 
rather flat furface, on the edges of which are twelve or thir- 
teen denticuli, making an uncommon appearance, and totally 
different from the teeth of any other animal, Another fingu- 
larity is their being tranfparent, unlefs viewed with a deep 
magnifier, when a few opaque lines may be perceived, which 
point out the cellular part of the tooth through which the 
blood veffeéls ramify, which are deftined for its growth and 
nourifhment. They are not all of the fame length. ‘Thofe in 
the antefior parts of the jaws are the longeft, from whence 
they gradually diminifh in length as they approach the angles 
of the mouth. : 
From the foregoing defcription of the teeth of the Chetadon 
nigricans, this fith feems to be mifplaced in the Syfema Natura 
of Linnzus ; fince one generic diftinétion of the Chetodontes 
is to have numerous, flender, and flexible teeth; whereas the 
teeth of the Chetodon nigricans are few in number, placed in 
one row, and of a cryftalline hardnefs, ep 
* This fifth is well reprefented in Du Hamex Traité général des Péfches, 
tom. III. feconde partie, fection IV. planche xii. under the name of Chirurgien 
ex Porte Lancette. 
7 Or 
