288 
I 
The Hijlory ^ANIMALS. 
Of ration triangulus tuberculis exiguis trimmer is ^ aculeis carens. 
"The triangular OJiracion , with numerous /mail tubercles , ^ /pines. 
The head of this fpecies is fmall ; the rod mm obtufe, and the mouth extreamly 
fmali : the teeth are large, and there are about eight in the lower, and eleven in the 
upper, jaw 3 the eyes are large, and covered with the cuticle : the noftrils are not eafily 
feen ; they have each a double aperture, but very fmall, and placed at a little diftance 
below the eyes: the upper part of the head is rounded, and the fkin above the eyes 
fomewhat elevated : the back is gibbofe and acute; the belly is very broad, and the 
whole body very much of a triangular figure: the fkin is hard, and the fcales, if they 
may be called fo, are of a hexagonal, or perhaps, more properly fpeaking, of a tri¬ 
angular, figure : the other angles being fcarce perceptible, they rife each into an emi¬ 
nence in the middle, and are ornamented with a vaft number of little tubercles, which 
are difpofed regularly in lines, and render them ftriated : the general colour of the fifh 
is a pale brown, with a very flight tinge of yellowifh in it; but it is variegated with 
a great number of white fpots, efpecially toward the back; there are from one to 
four of thefe on each fcale : the pe&oral fins have twelve rays each ; the dorfal or back 
fin has ten rays; the tail is rounded at the extremity, and has eight or ten rays. 
We have this brought over dried, with the others, from the Eaftern and American 
Seas. Lifter calls it Pifcis triangularis ex toto cornubus carens. 
OSTRACIONES. 
Divifion the Third. 
Thofe which have only four teeth. 
OJiracion fphcericus tetraodon aculeis undique exiguis . 
Thefpheric , four-toothed 0 fration ^ with Jhort fpines 
all over the body . 
fill)* 
T HI S is one of the fmaller fpecies; it rarely exceeds feven inches in length, and 
is about as much in diameter, the body being nearly of a fpherical figure, ex¬ 
cepting for the part toward the tail: the head is fcarce at all diftinguifhed from the 
reft of the body ; the mouth is fmall, and has only four teeth in it: the eyes are large, 
and covered with a cuticle; they ftand high upon the head : the apertures of the nof¬ 
trils are two on each fide, and are very confpicuous; the whole body is covered with 
fhort fpines of a whitifh colour and firm texture, placed at a fmall diftance from one 
another : the pedoral fins are broad and fhort; the back fin and pinna ani ftand oppo- 
Jite to one another, and at a great diftance from thefe the tail is oblong; the colour of 
the whole fifh is a dufky brown, with an admixture of yellowifh and of olive colour. 
it is frequent about the mouth of the Nile, and of feveral of the larger rivers in, 
Africa and the Eaft Indies; all the writers on fifties have defcribed it. Pliny, Belloni- 
us, Rondelet, Ifidore, Salvian, Gefner, and Jonfton, all call it, fimply, Orbis; Ray 
and Willughby, Orbis primus; Charleton, Orbis vulgaris; Aldrovand, Orbis fpecies 
ex Gefnero. The Venetians call it Pefce Columbo. Dried fpecimens of it are very 
frequent in the mufasums of our colle&ors. 
Oftracion maculofus aculeis undique denfis exiguis. TtitjZ JOttg!) 
The /potted Oftracion, with frequent fmall fpines . 
This grows to about twelve inches in length, and to eight or nine in diameter : the 
anterior part of the body approaches to a fpherical figure, but it is lengthened at the 
tail : the eyes are large and covered with the cuticle; the noftrils are confpicuous, and 
ftand at about an equal diftance from the eyes, and at the extremity of the roftrum 
there are two apertures to each : the mouth is fmall, and the teeth are only four : the 
whole body is befet with fmall, whitifh, bony fpines, placed at fmall diftances, and 
the tail is of an oblong form * the ground colour of the fifh is a pale whitifh-brown, 
but 
