Ihe Hijiory ^ANIMAL S, 285 
by a ridge., and not very prominent. Notwithftanding the flatnefs of the fuperficies 
of the back, however, it rifes into a kind of globoficy in the whole : the fkin is 
hard, and is marked all over, in a very elegant manner, with hexagonal figures: the 
back fin is fhort and moderately broad ; the pinna ani is longer : the lateral fins are 
oblong and broad, and the tail is large; they are all of a pale greyijfh-olive colour, the 
tail fomewhat darker than the reft. 
Moft of the writers on fifties have defcribed this fpecies. Aldrovand and jonfton 
call it Oftracion alter ; Willughby, Ray, and Lifter, Oftracion alter gibbofus ; and the 
fame authors, Pifcis quadrangularis gibbofus. We have it in plenty in the inufeums of 
our collectors of natural curiofities. 
Oftracion oblongo-quadrangulus roftro acuto , maculis in dorfo et capite • 
The oblongo-quadrangular Oftracion , with an acute roftrum , and fpots on 
the back and head. 
This is a moderately large fpecies: but the head is fmall, and the roftrum oblong and 
acute : the eyes are large, and are covered with a membrane ; the apertures of the 
noftrils are two on each fide, and are fituated at a confiderable diftance below the 
eyes, toward the roftrum : the body is of an oblong figure, and is quadrangular in 
fome degree, the back and belly being both flatted, and parted from the fides by a kind 
of ridge : the mouth, in this fpecies, is remarkably fmall ; the teeth are large and dif- 
proportioned : the general colour of the fifh is a pale brown, with a tinge of a grevifti- 
olive, but it is elegantly fpotted on the back and on the head> with a deep colour ap¬ 
proaching to black. 
The peCtoral fins are large and obtufe at the extremity 5 the pinna ani is oblong 5 
the back fin is fhorter, and they are all of them of a pale olive-grey: the whole fkin 
is hard, and there are no tubercles, nor any fpines on any part of it. 
Some of the writers on fifhes have defcribed it, but the generality feem not to have 
been acquainted with it. Lifter calls it Oftracion tertius roftratus. We meet with it 
in the cabinets of fome of our collectors of curiofities. 
Oftracion quadrangulus maculis variis plurimis. 
\The quadrangular Oftracion, with numerous differently fhapedfpots . 
This is a very fingular and a very beautiful fpecies: the head is fmall, and the rof¬ 
trum fubacute ; the eyes are remarkably large ; they are covered with a membrane, 
and their pupil is round : the noftrils have each a double aperture j they ftand at a 
moderate diftance below the eyes, and are very confpicuous: the mouth is fmall, but 
the teeth in it are numerous and large: the body is broad and thick, in proportion to 
it’s length, and is of a fquare figure : the back is broad, and the belly alfo is fomewhat 
broad and flatted, and the fides are feparated by a ridge each way, fo that there is a 
ftrong approach to a quadrangular figure: the fldn is very hard, and the whole fifh 
is tolerably fmooth; the ground colour is a deep brown, with an admixture of yel- 
lowifh, but it is very elegantly variegated all over with fpots of a rounded figure, and 
of different magnitudes, and different colours : the fcales are of a hexagonal figure, 
-and have feveral lines and little prominences on them ; on the fides of the fifh there is 
a fingle fpot on every fcale, but on the belly, where the fpots are much fmaller, there 
are two or three of them on each fcale or hexagonal figure: the upper part of the 
fides is more fpotted than the lower, and the back moft of all. 
The peCtoral or lateral fins have ten rays each : the back fin has nine rays, and the 
pinna ani eight; the tail has ten large rays. Few of the writers on fifties have known 
any thing of this fpecies. Lifter, in his Appendix to Willughby, calls it Pifcis medi- 
ocris quadrangularis maculofus. 
4 D 
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OSTRACIONES, 
