"I 
290 The Hiflory o/ A N I M A L S, 
of fhort and flat fpines, and the belly is fmooth : the general colour is a pale yellow- 
ifh-brown, but behind each of the pe&oral fins there ftands a black fpot j at the root 
of the back fin there is alfo, on each fide, a black fpot, and there are fome other 
imali ones of the fame colour about the head. 
This is a native of the Brafilian Seas. Marcgrave calls it Guamaiacu atinga j Wil- 
lughby and Ray, Orbis ranas ridu 5 and Clufius, in his Exotics, Orbis^fp’inofus. 
The mouth, when opened, is fomewhat like that of a frog in fhape, not round, as in 
the other fpecies, but flat. 
* 
Oftracion fuhrotundus aculeis undiqrn brevibus triquetris raris . 
The roundijh Oftracion , with flat , triquetrous 3 and rare fpines . 
This is of a figure confiderably different from the preceding fpecies: the back and 
belly are both a little flatted ; the fides are rounded and prominent: the mouth is finally 
and the jaws are naked and bony, but there are no teeth : the eyes are fmall, and are co¬ 
vered with the fkin of the head 5 the noftrils have each a double aperture, and are fairly 
confpicuous: the covering of the head, juft over the eyes, is raifed into an oblong emi¬ 
nence on each fide; the mouth ftands high in the anterior part of the head, in a very 
Angular diredion : the body is of a figure, in general, approaching to fpherical, but 
depreffed : the fpines on it are not large j they are broad and triangular at the bafe, 
and they do not ftand fo clofe as in'many of the other fpecies: the general colour of 
the body is a pale brown, but there are on feveral parts of it fpots of a deep black. 
We have fpecimens of this from the American Seas, but it is not fo frequent in our 
colledions, as many of the other fpecies. Lifter calls it, Orbis muricatus et reticula- 
tus; others, Orbis muricatus. 
Oftracion rotundo-oblongus tuberculis utrinque , pinna dorfi hngifftma. 
The oblong Oftracion , with tubercles on both fides , and with the back fin 
This is an extreamly Angular fpecies, and carries the general appearance, in many 
refpeds, of a fifh of fome other genus: the head is fmall; the opening of the mouth 
is wider than in moft of the others, but it is not round but flat: the body is of an 
oblong and rounded figure, and the fifh grows to a foot and a half in length : there run 
on each fide of the body two longitudinal feries of fpines or tubercles: the back fin, 
quite contrary to all the preceding fpecies, is extreamly long, and runs from the back 
part of the head quite to the tail. 
We have fpecimens of this from the American Seas, but it is more rare than many 
of the other fpecies. This is properly the fpecies which Clufius calls Orbis ranae 
ridu, the frog-mouthed Orbis, though the authors who have followed him, have quoted 
him as ufing that name for a very different fpecies before defended. Indeed all thefe 
toothlefs fpecies have the mouth of this flat form, when opened, not round as the 
others. 
Oftracion fubrotundus aculeis undique denfis , bafi triquetris . 
The roundijh Oftracion , with numerous fpines on all parts 3 triquetrous at 
the bafe . 
The head of this fpecies is fmall; the eyes are very large, and covered with the cuti- 
cle : the mouth is fmall, and has flefihy lips; there are no teeth, but the jaws are 
naked and bony : the noftrils have each a double aperture, and ftand at a fmall di~ 
ftance below the eyes: the whole fifh is about fixteen inches in length 5 the body is 
rounded, and is all over covered with fpines fet very clofe and thick ; they are not very 
long, but are robuft, and are of a triquetrous figure at the bafe : there are no belly 
fins; the pedoral ones are broad and fhort j the back fin and pinna ani are oblong and 
narrow j the tail is oblong : the colour of the whole fifh is a pale brown ; the 
fpines are whiter than the reft of the fkin, but there are no fpots nor variegations of 
any kind on it. 
very long . 
We 
