OSTRACION BICUSPES.— Blumenb. 



Pisces.— Plate XVIII. 



0. supra pallide flavo-brunneus, aurantio-brunneo nebulatus ; infra lactifloreus ; cauda. flavo-brunnea ; 

 pinnis lactifioreis ; carina dorsi angulisque lateralibus, duobus aculeis parvis armatis ; naso obtuso, 

 sub- horizon tale. 



Longitudo e nasi apice ad pinna? caudalis extremitatem 10 unc. 



Obstracion Bictjspes. Blumenb. Abbild. Naturhist. Gegen, No. 58. 



OSTRACION STELLIFER. Schtl. Syst. Icth. Bloch. 



Colour. — Back and sides pale yellowish brown, faintly tinted or clouded 

 with light orange-coloured brown ; belly pale cream-yellow ; tail, behind 

 cuirass, pale yellowish brown ; fins cream-yellow, each at the base faintly 

 tinted with light yellowish-brown ; sides of the head with three or four hori- 

 zontal livid coloured lines. 



Form, &c. — Figure triangular, the apex of the triangle formed by the 

 ridge of the back (vide fig. 6). Head above broad ; between eye-brow T s 

 slightly concave ; behind eyes rather convex ; sides of the head compressed ; 

 facial outline narrow, and removed but little from the perpendicular; muzzle 

 protuberant, pointed, and forming an obtuse angle with the line of the face. 

 Mouth directed obliquely downwards ; lips thick ; teeth moderately long and 

 slender ; eyes rather large ; branchial opening perpendicular and directly 

 under the outer canthus of the eye. Face rough from granules, but no 

 distinct plates ; plates of the side of the head small, generally six-sided 

 granular, but without divergent rays. The ridge of the back is acute, mode- 

 rately elevated, slightly arched, and armed with two small spines, one behind 

 the other, towards the middle or most elevated portion of the curve; the arch 

 commences at the centre of the hind head, a little behind the outer canthus of 

 the eye, and ends at the commencement of the dorsal fin. Behind the dorsal 

 fin the upper part of the cuirass is flat, and rather broad, its hinder part pro- 

 jecting some way along the upper surface of the tail, in the form of an obtuse 

 point. The sides slope obliquely from the ridge of the back to the abdo- 

 minal angles, and behind the eyes bulge considerably beyond a regular slope, 

 as will be understood on reference to section b ; the hinder edge of the sides 



