THE SAND-GOOTOO. 
287 
yellowish hue. Could the action of the gizzard 
have dissolved the lime of the shell, so as to alter its 
texture thus ? The time when this occurred was 
about the middle of summer. 
THE SAND-GOOTOO. 
In walking along the smooth sandy beach between 
Bluefields and the Creek, our attention is attracted 
by some little Fishes, the largest not exceeding four 
inches in length, which shoot hither and thither in 
the shallows close to the water’s edge. They are 
somewhat fearless, and if alarmed do not flee far, and 
never into the deep water, but frequently seek to 
hide among the sea-grass, or attempt to bury them- 
selves in the sand. The negroes call them Sand- 
Gootoo, to distinguish them from a kind of Scarus, 
which they designate as Eatable Gootoo ; the former 
belong to the genus Tetraodon. They have little 
beauty of form or colour, the upper parts of the body 
being marked with large sinuous spots of olive on a 
white ground: the eyes however are brilliant, the 
irides being golden, tinged with orange, the pupils 
lustrous green or blue.^' 
* Tetraodon ammocryptus, mihi. (^Ay/xos, sand, KpvTrru}, to hide.) 
The upper jaw most advanced ; the body not compressed ; pectorals 
rounded ; caudal truncate. There are minute points scattered over 
the belly, scarcely projecting beyond the surface of the skin ; and 
during life so concealed by the loose, mucous integument as to 
present not the slightest roughness to the feel : they become obvious, 
however, after a long immersion in spirit. Lateral line invisible. A 
minute, erect, horn-like wart in front of each eye. The colours are 
described in the text. 
