. The naturalist in Australia. Natural history. FISHES—PHENOMENAL AND ECONOMICAL. 191 formidable teeth of a large specimen being liable to lead to a loss of flesh, Ijlood, and—with an)' but evenly-balanced minds—serenity of language and temper. One other interesting member of the order of the Plectognathi is included in Chromo-Plate VII. This is the Tasmanian Porcupine-fish, or prickly Globe-fish, as it is sometimes called, ChUomijcterus jaenliferm, Fig. D. It very nearly resembles the common Porcupine-fish, Dlodon maculata, of the tropical Australian coast-line but possesses more slender spin
. The naturalist in Australia. Natural history. FISHES—PHENOMENAL AND ECONOMICAL. 191 formidable teeth of a large specimen being liable to lead to a loss of flesh, Ijlood, and—with an)' but evenly-balanced minds—serenity of language and temper. One other interesting member of the order of the Plectognathi is included in Chromo-Plate VII. This is the Tasmanian Porcupine-fish, or prickly Globe-fish, as it is sometimes called, ChUomijcterus jaenliferm, Fig. D. It very nearly resembles the common Porcupine-fish, Dlodon maculata, of the tropical Australian coast-line but possesses more slender spines and other obscure points of distinction. When brought to the surface of the water it shares with the familiar tropical species the property of inflating itself with air into an almost perfect sphere, around which the spines stand rigidly erect. A fish thus floating and inflated was always observed to occupy a considerable interval, it might be half-an-hour, in getting rid of the injected air and thereby recovering the capacity to descend again into the profun- dities of its native element. The Toad-fishes, belonging to the genus Tetrodon, which are very abundantly represented in Australian waters, possess the same power of inflating their bodies, and are on this account pre-eminently distinguished in Australia by the title of Blow- fishes. Several of the smaller varieties, and notably a handsome golden-green, black spotted form, Tetrodon Hamiltoni, are plentiful on the Tasmanian coast, but the larger species of a foot or more in length are chiefly limited to the tropics. It is worthy of i^emark that the members of this genus are notoriously poisonous, and that several fatalities have occurred in both Tasmania and on the Australian mainland through the injudicious participation in a meal of Toad-fish. A portrait of the above-named common and highly poisonous Tasmanian species is lAXIAX TOAD-HSII, TctTOdoil IlfimiltOfli. TWO-THIKDS NATURAL Please note th
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