L’Ostracion pointillé, _Lacép._ Hist. Nat. des Poiss. tom. i. p. 455.
pl. 21. fig. 1.
Ostracion punctatus, _Schneid._ Syst. Ichth. p. 501.
———— Meleagris, _Shaw_, Nat. Misc. pl. 253.
This well-marked species of Ostracion, first described by Lacépède from
Commerson’s MSS., and afterwards figured by Shaw, in his “Naturalist’s
Miscellany,” under the name of _O. Meleagris_, was obtained by Mr.
Darwin at Tahiti, where it had been previously observed by Captain Cook.
There are two specimens in the collection, both exactly similar, and of
the same size, measuring a trifle more than three inches and a half in
length. They also accord well with Shaw’s figure. Lacépède, in his
description, speaks of the anal fin as being more extended than the
dorsal, and as having eleven rays; but in both Mr. Darwin’s specimens, I
find the number of rays in these two fins the same. The formula is as
follows: