ANDREWS —ON OliTUAGORISCUS OBLONGTJS. 59 



order plectognathi, or cheloiriform fishes, in which it has been placed. 

 With the Balistidae, it is connected with Ostrasince in the character of 

 the plates of the cuticle, which, similar to the Ostracian or Trunk-fish, 

 are, instead of scales, composed of plates joined together. The European 

 File-fish* (Batistes capriscus), which has been taken off the coast of 

 Sussex, exhibits an arrangement covering the body of hard rhomboidal 

 imbedded plates. To Tetraodon and Diodon it is related by having no 

 true teeth, and to the Syngnathidce, or Pipe-fish, by the versatile struc- 

 tural arrangement of the eyes. The Syngnathus, however, more pro- 

 perly belongs to the Lophobranchii. 



Dr. Bellingham's excellent description of Orthagoriscus mola, in 

 a paper read at the meeting of the Society, in April, 1840, and 

 publ^hed in the ''Magazine of Natural History" of that year, clearly 

 sho 1 js how very distinct are the characters he has described from 

 those I have given of the Oblongus. In the latter the form of the 

 pectoral fin, the hexagonal compartments or plates on the surface of 

 the body, and possessing a true caudal fin with rays, show such im- 

 portant deviations that I am inclined to consider the generic name, 

 Cephalus, as applied by Shaw and Swainson, to be more appropriate 

 than being continued with the genus Orthagoriscus. The Mola seems 

 much nearer allied to Pedalion of Guilding in the rough granulated sur- 

 face of the body, the short, rounded, pectoral fin, and more particularly 

 in the lobed sacral appendage, serving instead of the caudal fin. In 

 Pedalion the lobes are described as six in number; in Orthagoriscus 

 mola they are eight to nine. In this respect the figures given in the 

 several works on British fishes are very inaccurate. 



Mr. Couch has remarked of the Mola taken on the Cornish coast, 

 that in calm weather it mounts to the surface, and lies, perhaps asleep, 

 floating with the tide, with its head and even its eyes above water ; but 

 that he has known it when attacked to make awkward efforts to escape* 

 bending and directing its motion in various ways. Dr. Neil states that 

 one brought to him made no efforts to escape, but suffered one of the 

 sailors to put his hands under it, and lift it into the boat,, so stupid the 

 fish appeared. In the several statements it does not appear that the 

 fish made any attempts to descend. 



Dr. Parran is of opinion that this action of floating on the surface 

 could not have been one of rest or enjoyment, but that the creature 

 must evidently have been in a dying state. Mr. Robert Ball has stated 

 that between the years 1818 and 1825 he saw five of these fish off the 

 coast of Youghal. There were three of them dead. Diodon and Tetra- 

 odon (the Globe-fish) have the power of inflating an extensile mem- 

 brane sac, which adheres along the abdomen, and when thus distended, 

 they roll over, and float with the stomach uppermost. They can as 

 readily eject the air, render the membrane flaccid, and sink at pleasure. 

 In tropical seas, Dr. Eoget mentions that fish have been captured by 

 having remained too long on the. surface of the water, exposed to the 



* Some taken in Galway, Dingle, and Brandon Bays. 



