FILEFISH NEAV TO THE FAUNA OF THE UNITED STATES. 
275 
Cuba by Parra in 1787, and technically described from that island by Poey in 18(53, 
is the same as the Old World species. On this i)oint these authors say: 
The American species seems to he identical with the East Indian Alntera moiioceros. Should 
differences apxiear on comparison of specimens, the former should apparently stand as Alntera 
gnntheriana, Foey. — (Fishes of North and Middle America, Bulletin 17, U. S. National Museum, 1898.) 
Unfortunately, no specimens of this fish from West Indian waters are known to 
be preserved, and it is doubtful if any examples are now extant, either in America or 
Europe, Poey’s description being based primarily on a drawing and the whereabouts 
of his type beiitg unknown. As will subsequently appear, the description of Poey 
fails in some respects to accurately tit the Old World fish, and quite possibly applies 
to a distinct species. Should it hereafter be shown that the two are identical, the 
Woods Hole specimen will be interesting in that it is the only known example taken 
in the Atlantic since Poey’s time, and possibly the only one extant in collections. 
It will be observed that the following original description of this fish, as contained 
in the English translation of Osbeck’s work, is based on specimens of the same size 
as the Woods Hole fish. The only clue to the general form of this species is given 
indirectly under the head of Balistes scriptiis, which is said to be “a fish equal in size 
and appearance to the Balistes monoceros, but marked over the whole body, as it were, 
with blue letters of an Eastern language.” 
Balistes monoceros is a species of flsli which looks like a flounder at a distance and has almost the 
same taste, but is not so fat. The fish was half a foot long and its body covered with a dark-gray 
rough skin. We caught several with a hook, and this afforded me an oijportunity of describing them. 
On each side is a sjiiracle, and next to it, within the skin, two transversal bones; the first 
dorsal fin, near the eyes, consists of a reversed brittle bone, which is armed with little hooks; it 
is the length of a finger’s breadth and a little longer than the other fins; the second dorsal fin has 
47 rays; the pectoral fins are the least; each has 13 rays; the ventral tins are wanting; in their stead 
along hone under the skin; the anal fin is oijposite to the second dorsal fin and has 51 rays; the tail 
has 12 ramose rays ; the mouth is oblong and narrow; the lower jaw is somewhat longer than the 
upper; on each side of it stand three pointed, broad teeth, connected together below, of which the 
middlemost is split; the lips are movable. — (A voyage to China and the East Indies. By Peter Osbeck. 
Translated from the German by John Rednhold Forster. London, 1771.) 
Later autbors, iu writing of A. monoceros or of the various fishes which have been 
referred to the synonymy of that species, have so modified and extended the original 
description that the characters of the species are now much involved. Even conceding 
to A. monoceros a wide range of variation iti form and color, it seems possible that 
several oriental species are included under that name, if differences shown iti ])ublished 
descriptiofis atid plates can be relied on. Quotations might be made from numerous 
works to show the discrepancies in the descriptions of this species, assuming them to 
ajiply to the same fish, but a few references will suffice. 
In the ichthyological part of “ Voyage of the Sulphur,” Eichardson describes this 
fish from China and Hew Guinea under the n&me Al enter es herardi Lesson, as follows: 
Dorsal 1, 48; anal, 50. The skin of this species looks delicate to the eye, and is sottish to the 
touch, but when viewed through a lens it is seen to be crowded by little bluntish points finer than 
in the other species lAleuteres Uvris^. The dorsal spine is long, and Ijeing slender, is easily mutilated, 
as was the case with the individual from which our figure was taken. Mr. Reeves’s drawing does nut 
show the pale roundish marks exhibited iu Lesson's figure, and no traces of this can be detected in 
Sir Edward Belcher’s siiecimen, which also agrees with the Chinese jiainting, showing a greater promi- 
nence of the pelvic bone near the chin. The ground color of the jjainting is brownis’u-iiurple red, 
with some crimson and puri^le touches on the temples and face. Length, 154 inches. 
