FISH.
F a m i l y .— B A L I S T I D n E .
1. B a l i s t e s V e t u l a . B l.
Vetula, Bloch, Ichth. tab. 150.
Duptrrmj, (Voyage) Zoologie, p. 114, pi. 9. fig. 2.
F orm.— Body deep, subrhombic, very much compressed; the greatest depth equalling half the
entire length. Tail unarmed. Three or four larger scales than the others behind the branchial
orifice. Pelvic bone projecting, prickly, connected with which is a fin consisting of
about nine pairs of short rays. Above this fin, and parallel to its base, are two or three rows
of short spines, but not much developed. F irst dorsal of three spines, commencing above the
pectoral; first spine very strong and rough, the third not much smaller than the second.
Second dorsal, and anal, w hich answer to each other, nearly even throughout, the anterior rays
not being prolonged beyond the others. T he caudal is injured, and its exact form cannot be
determined. No lateral line.
D. 3—30; A. 27; C. 12; P. 14.
Length 1 inc. 10 lin.
C oLO U E.-(/» spiriu.) Yellowish grey, becoming paler beneath. Three or four dark transverse
streaks across the head from eye to eye: beneath the eye one or two indistinct streaks, passing off
towards the branchial orifice; also two very distinct longer ones commencing on the upper part
of the snout before the eyes, and passing obliquely across tbe checks towards the roots of the
pectorals, parallel to those last mentioned. Besides the above, there are several obliquely
transverse interrupted lines on the sides of the b ody; in one specimen, these lines ate not well
defined; in another, they are distinct, but so much interrnptcd as to have tho appearance of
spots arranged in a Unear series. Two or three transverse lines encircling the tail; and some
remains of longitudinal stripes on the second dorsal and anal fins.
The above description is that of two very small specimens of a species of
Balistes taken by Mr. Darwin in Lat. 14" 20' South, Long. 38" 8' West, about
sixty-five miles from land. I have very little doubt of their being the young of the
B . Vetula of Bloch. The only respects in which they appear to differ from that
species are the oblique lines on the back being carried completely across the
sides in the form of lines of spots, and the anterior portions of the second dorsal
and anal fins not being prolonged in a p o in t; but both these differences may be
the effect of immaturity.
2 . B a l is t e s a c u l e a t u s .
Balistes aciilc.atus, Bloch, Iclith. tab. 149.
B l.
_______________ Bonn, in Zool. of Beechey’s Voy. p. 69. pi. 22. f. 2.
F o r m .— Body deep, subrhombic. T all armed with three rows of prickles, eleven in the uppermost
row, about nine or ten in the middle one, and five or six in the lowermost, A few larger
scales than the others behind the branchial orifice. Pelvic bone very rough and prickly, the