36o REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



Sub-Order OSTRACODERMI. 



The Trunk Fishes. 



Represented by a singular family, the only one in this group. 



Family OSTRACIID^. 



The Trunk Fishes. 



Body short, cuboid, triquetrous or pentagonal, covered by a 

 carapace formed of firmly united polygonal bony patches. Jaws, 

 bases of fins and caudal peduncle covered by smooth skin and 

 free. Maxillaries and premaxillaries firmly united. Gill-opening 

 a nearly vertical slit, below and behind the eye. Vertebrae 14, 

 anterior 9 elongate, last 5 extremely short. No ribs. Dorsal 

 single, short, without spine. Anal short, similar to dorsal. Cau- 

 dal rounded. No ventrals. 



Fishes of the tropical seas living near the bottom in shallow 

 w^aters. They are so singular in appearance and so easily pre- 

 served that they have been common in collections ever since col- 

 lecting tropical curiosities began. One species straying to our 

 shores. 



Genus Lactophrys Swainson. 



The Trunk Fishes. 



Lactophrys trigonus (Linnaeus). 



Trunk Fish. 



Known from all of our other fishes by the bony carapace, which 

 is without spines and closed behind dorsal fin. 



I have never seen any examples, though a trunk fish, most 

 likely this species, has been reported to me from Cape May. Most 

 likely Dr. Abbott's reference is to this species. It reaches about 

 a foot in length. 



fTetrasomiis camelinus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 827. 



