25 
OSTRACION. 
or twelve inches ; Cepede fays a foot and a half; Linnaeus, 
four inches. Its inodes of living are the fame as the other 
fpecies of this genus. The flelh is tough and hard ; the 
liver is large, anil yields plenty of oil. The Europeans 
in the Indies defpife it; but the negroes have a method 
of cooking it fo as to make a palatable diffi. It is repre- 
fented, from a fmall fpecimen, at fig. 2. 
9. Oftracion cornutus, the horned trunk-fiffi: body 
fquare, armed with four long fpines, two at the head and 
two at the anus. There are 11 rays in the peftoral fins, 
10 in the tail, jin the anal and dorfal. Of the four tides, 
the belly is the broad ell, the back the narrowed; the four 
form an acute angle. The head is fhort, and much trun¬ 
cated, the roftrum decliningalmoft perpendicularly. The 
eyes are large, with a black pupil, the iris yellowifh-green ; 
and near them are the noftrils. There are ufually ten 
teeth in the upper jaw, and eight in the lower. The 
pieces of armour rife in the middle, and are rough to the 
touch ; fome of thefe pieces are hexagonal, fome bepta- 
gonal. The body is of a yellowifh-brown colour; the fins 
yellowifh, except the tail, which is brown, and very dark 
towards the end ; the tail and its fin are very long. This 
lingular fifli is found in the Eaft Indies, and at the Mo¬ 
luccas. It is eight or ten inches long, and lives in the 
manner of the preceding fpecies. It is known alfo at the 
Bahama Ifles, where however it feldom exceeds four 
inches in length. Its fpines defend it from the voracious 
tribes; only the Anarhichas lupus, or wolf-fifh, will 
venture to attack it; and he fometimes lofes his life by 
the fpines wounding his entrails. The flefli is hard, tough, 
and difficult of digellion ; fo that only the common people 
eat of it: according to Renard, the liver is fo fat, that it 
melts almoft entirely into oil. This is reprefented at rig. 3. 
10. Oftracion auritus, the eared trunk-fiffi : brown, with 
a fpine over each eye, two on each fide the back and abdo¬ 
men, and one on each fide the body. Habit thick, broad, 
and fhort, with the back very convex ; fhape fubtriangu- 
Jar 3 above each eye a very ftrong, thick, fharp-pointed, 
fpine, curving backwards, fo as to give the refembiance of 
a pair of ears; on each fide the middle of the ridge of the 
back two others of fimilar appearance: on each fide the 
abdomen two more, and on each fide the middle of the 
body a fingle fpine, fhorter than the reft. Colour of the 
whole animal deep-brown, except the fpines and fins, 
which are pale : length of the fpecimen defcribed, about 
four inches and a half; pectoral fins fomewhat lanceo¬ 
late; tail nearly even, but with a flight approach towards 
a lunated fhape. Native of the Indian Seas : obferved 
during the voyages of Capt. Cook; and preferved in the 
Britiffi Mufeum. It is reprefented at fig. 4. from Dr. 
Shaw’s Gen. Zool and Nat. Mifcel. 
11. Oftracion ftriatus, the ftriped trunk-fiffi: yellow 
and blue ftripes on the body ; a fpine over each eye, two on 
each fide the back and abdomen, and one on each fide the 
body. Size and habit of the preceding. Colour a beau¬ 
tiful variation of bright-blue and yellow, in the form of 
lines difpofed in different direflions, but principally in a 
longitudinal one, over the whole fifli; above each eye a 
ftrong fpine as in the former; on the ridge of the back 
two pair, difpofed as in that fpecies; and on each fide the 
abdomen three, the middle of which is higher than the 
reft. Fins and tail pale-blue, the dorfal and anal fin blue 
and yellow at the bale, and the tail (which is flightly lu¬ 
nated) edged with yellow; all the fpines are of a blue 
colour. Whether this fifli be a fexual difference, or a dif- 
tindl fpecies, may perhaps be doubted; for the eared 
trunk-fiffi may in reality be no other than the prefent ani¬ 
mal, changed entirely in colour from having been long 
preferved in fpirits of wine. Defcribed by Dr, Shaw, from 
a drawing by Capt. G. Tobin, by whom it was obferved 
about the coafts of Adventure Bay in Van Diemen’s Land. 
12. Oftracion tetragonus, the dotted trunk-fifti: body 
quadrangular; little radiated tubercles, but no polygonal 
figures, on the bony covering; fmall white fpots all over 
the body. There are 10 rays in the peftoral fins, 9 in the 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1221. 
dorfal, 11 in the anal, 10 in the tail, which is rounded. 
Commerfon found this fpecies in the Mauritius, orlfleof 
France. It is only about fix inches long. The white 
lenticular fpots are innumerable, not only on the fhell, 
but on the bare parts; they are fomewhat larger on the 
back; larger dill, and running one into the other, upon 
the belly; and are the more remarkable, as the ground¬ 
colour is brown. The jaws are equally protruded; the 
teeth frequently of a dark colour, and commonly ten in 
each jaw. Under each eye there is a broad, flat, or rather 
hollowed, fpace, carved out in a very peculiar manner. 
13. Oftracion tuberculatus, the tuberculated trunk- 
fifti : body quadrangular, four large tubercles at right 
angles upon the back, but no fpines. This fpecies differs 
from the preceding only in the tubercles mentioned 
above; they lie pretty far back, diftant from the head. 
Native of India. 
14. Oftracion oblongus, Commerfon’s trunk-fifti: body 
quadrangular; a tubercle above the mouth, another 
below. Ten rays in each pefloral fin, 9 in the dorlal 
and anal, 10 in the tail, which is rounded. This fpecies 
alfo is defcribed by Cepede from Commerfon’s MSS. It 
is covered with hexagonal plates and radiated tubercles; 
the plates on the back are black in the centre; but the 
general colour of the armour is dirty-red. The fins are 
brown ; the extremity of the tail, the iris of the eye, the 
intervals of the-pieces about the opercula of the gills, are 
of a bright-yellow; the under parts of the body are of a 
faint dirty-yellow. The fnout is blunt; the mouth fmall ; 
the teeth are brown, ten in each jaw. The tubercles, 
which form the fpecific ch a rafter, are whitiffi, and. of a 
cartilaginous fubftance; one in front of the aperture of 
the mouth, the other, which is the largeft, underneath. 
The tongue is a lhapelefs cartilage, fomewhat rounded, 
and whitiffi. The noftrils are fmall, and very near the 
eyes. The gills are four on each fide; the concave part 
of the femicircles which fuftain them are minutely fer- 
rated. It grows a foot long: was obferved by Commerfon 
at Ifle Praflin. 
15. Oftracion gibbofus, the hunch-back trunk-fiffi: 
body quadrangular, a bunch on the back; no fpines. 
Gmelin doubts whether it may not be a variety of the 
triqueter, or frnooth trunk-fifti; he leaves it a diftinft 
fpecies, however, to which the lingular rifing on the back 
feems to entitle it. Knorr has a figure and defcription of 
a fifti which has been taken for an Oftracion, and is called 
porte-crtte in the plates of theEncyclopedie Methodique; 
that fiffi feems to belong to the Lophius ; but the de- 
fign is very incorrefi, and was probably made from a mu¬ 
tilated fpecimen, fo that no reliance can be placed upon 
it. Inhabits Africa. 
16. Oftracion cubicus, the fquare fifli: body quadran¬ 
gular, with white fpots; each fin has 10 ramified rays, 
no fpines ; fides flattiffi, narrow, and long, the lower 
broader than the upper. The fhell in this fpecies is di¬ 
vided into hexagonal pieces, upon each of which is a 
white fpot inclofed in a brown circle; thefe pieces are of 
a darker colour towards the back than in the centre. The 
lips are large; the upper jaw' lias twelve teeth, the lower 
ten. The eyes are.oval; pupil black; iris yellow. The 
apertures of the gills are fmaller than in the other fpecies. 
The fides are grey; the head yellowifh ; the tail brown ; 
the peftoral fins reddiffi, the others moftly grey. There 
are little rifings on the fhell, which render it rough. This 
fiffi is caught in the waters of Arabia, and in the Eaft: 
Indies, efpecially in the Mauritius. It grows about a 
foot long, living on worms and infefts, like the reft of the 
genus. Forikael fays its fieffi is very well tailed ; Renard 
adds, that it may be tamed fo as to come to the furface 
and eat out of your hand. 
17. Oftracion nafus, the beaked trunk-fiffi: a nafal pro- 
trufion above the mouth ; nine ftrong branched rays in 
each fin. The four fides of this fiffi are nearly of equal 
length ; they meet in acute angles ; and, beingjong and 
narrow, the fiffi forms nearly an oblong fquare, or paral- 
H lelogram. 
