470 1 MTTCHILt ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK. 



Caught at the city of New-York, August 1, 1814, and examination- 

 made from the fresh specimen, sent me by Robert Fulton, Esq. a gen- 

 tleman whose social virtues and inventive talents were of the first pr4er 



DIODON. 



Generic Character, 



Jaws long, undivided. Body beset with moveable spines. 



I. Spol-slriped Dioclon. (Diodon maculate striates.) Having zebra, 

 stripes mingled with thorny spots. 



Length four inches ; breadth about three. Figure of the head and 

 body square and chubbed. 



Tail slender, convex, and short. Dorsal and anal fins far behind, and 

 a ear the tail. Pectoral fins broad and almost rectangular. 



Eyes two inches asunder ; and their brows prominent and bold. 



Four or five rows of stiff and acute prickles run from the orbits of the 

 eyes, and the adjacent space along the back, toward the tail. The sides 

 are also occupied by longitudinal rows of spines. A soft teat-like pro- 

 cess on each side, at a small distance from the vent. 



So likewise is the belly. But on tliis part they are shorter. On the 

 back they are nearly a quarter of an inch long. 



Colour of the back and sides brown, and white in streaks. Between 

 the mouth and eyes, between the eyes and pectoral fins, and between 

 these last and the tail, the stripes are transverse ; but on the back they 

 fro lengthwise from the forehead to the dorsal fin. 



Behind the dorsal fin, the white and brown lines are oblique, and meet 

 at the ridge. Belly white or orange. 



On each side, behind the pectoral fin, a dark spot with a spine in the 

 middle ; the spot rather obkmg, or of an irregular circumscription, and 

 partly covered by the pectoral fin. In the full-grown individuals, a 



