408 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
the third nearly as large as second and remote from it; second dorsal and anal long, similar to each 
other; caudal fin rounded, with the outer rays much produced in the adult; branehiostegals 6; verte- 
brae 74-1.0. Species rather few, chiefly American; some of them straying to the old world. 
Batistes (Artedi) Linnaeus, Syst, Nat., Ed. X, 327, 1758 (vctula). 
Capriscus Rafinesque, Indice, 41, 58, 1810 ( porcus= capriscus ). 
Chalisoma Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class’n Pishes, II, 325, 1839 ( pulcherrima ). 
Capriscus Swainson, op. cit., II, 326, 1839 ( capriscus ); after Capriscus of Willughby. 
Paehynathus Swainson, op. cit., II, 326, 1839 ( triangularis =cdpistrattos ); the name evidently in error for Pachygnathus , hut 
not so spelled; not Pachygnathus , an earlier name of a genus of spiders. 
a. Scales more than 60 (about 80); dorsal not highest in front; color black 
cm. Scales 60 or fewer (50 to 60); dorsal with anterior rays more or less elevated. 
6. Origin of spinous dorsal midway between eye and gill-opening; side with dark streaks 
hh. Origin of spinous dorsal over or behind gill-opening. 
c. Dorsal and anal somewhat elevated in front; scales 60; black, the fins pale 
cc. Dorsal and anal not elevated in front; a dark streak through eye; scales 50 to 56. 
d. Scales about 50 
del. Scales about 56; a broad pale streak behind mouth 
333. Balistes nycteris (Jordan & Evermann). Fig. 179. 
Head 3.5 in length; depth 1.9; eye 5 in head; snout 1.25; interorbital 2.6; preorbital 1.5; D. hi- 
33; A. 29; scales about 80. 
Body short, stout, deep and greatly compressed; head short, the dorsal and ventral profiles about 
equally curved; caudal peduncle short, compressed, its least depth about twice diameter of eye, its 
Fig. 179. — Balistes nycteris (Jordan & Evermann); from the type. 
least width about equal to diameter of eye; a short horizontal groove in front of eye below nostrils; 
nostrils small, close together, in front of upper part of eye; teeth broad, close set, forming a continuous 
plate, teeth not united, however; lips thin; mouth small, horizontal, in axis of bod}', lower jaw very 
slightly the longer; gill-opening short, nearly vertical; a group of bony scutes under pectoral back of 
gill-opening, one of these considerably enlarged; scales regularly arranged in rows, their surfaces 
granular; lateral line beginning at posterior edge of eye, ascending to within 7 scales of spinous dorsal 
and continuing to near origin of soft dorsal, where it disappears; scales on posterior portion of body 
and on caudal peduncle each with a slightly raised crest at center, these forming series of ridges along 
the side. First dorsal spine strong, blunt and rough, its length about 2 in head; second dorsal spine 
shorter and much weaker, its length scarcely more than one-third that of first; third dorsal spine 
remote from the second and very short, not extending above the dorsal groove; soft dorsal gently 
rounded, its rays of approximately equal length, the longest equaling distance from tip of snout to 
posterior edge of eye; base of soft dorsal slightly greater than distance from tip of snout to posterior 
base of first dorsal spine, or equaling distance from tip of snout to lower base of pectoral axil; anal 
nycteris, p. 408 
, fuscolineatus , p. 409 
vidua, p. 409 
bursa, p. 410 
.capistratus, p. 411 
