104 PISCES. 



Perca gigas, Gm. Three feet and more in length; of a cloud- 

 ed brown: it is also taken in the Ocean. 



The Merrae, foreign to Europe, are extremely numerous; the den- 

 tation of the preoperculum, in several, becomes almost insensible;(l) 

 but, generally, they can only be distinguished by their colours. 



There are many in which the body is dotted with colours more or 

 less vivid, (2) and others, in which it is marked with crowded spots.(3) 



Some in which it is longitudinally striped,(4) or transversely,(5) 

 or marbled in large patches, (6) or divided into two colours,(7) or, 

 finally, of a more or less uniform tint. (8) Very few of them possess 

 characters drawn from very apparent varieties of form. We will 

 cite, however, the 



(1) These, when the muzzle is naked, constitute the Bodianus, Bloch; they 

 only differ from most of the Holocentri of the same author, in this diminished 

 dentation. The Holocentri, when the muzzle is scaly, are called Epinepheli, 

 and where this is the case with the BoBiAifr, they are called Cephaegphoies. The 

 Ltjtjani and Anthije of Bloch differ from the Hoxocentri, in the absence of the 

 spines on their operculum; in the first ones, the muzzle is naked; it is scaly in 

 the otliers; but all these characters, of but little importance in themselves, are 

 very badly applied to the species. 



(2) They are the Jacob Evertsen of the Dutch, such as: Bodiantis guttatus, BL, 

 224; CephcdophoUs argus, Bl., Schn., pi. 61; Bodianus bocnak^JM. 226; Holoc. 

 aurutus, lb. 236; Hul. cseruko-jnmdatus. Id. 242, 2; Labnis pundulatus, La- 

 cep.. Ill, xvii, 2, &c.; and in America, Perca guttata, Bl. 312, or Spare sanguino- 

 ient, Lacep. IV, iv, 1; P. maculata, Bl. 313, or Spare atlantique, Lac, IV, v, 1; 

 Johnius guttatus, Bl. Schn., ov Bonaci-arara, Parra, XVI, 2; Lutjanus lunulatus, 

 ]5l. Schn., or Cabrillu, Parra, XXXVI,' 1; Bodianus guativere, Parra, V; Holoc. 

 punciatus,B\. 24!l, or Pyrapixanga,Ma.vcg. 152; Gymnocephalus ruber, B\. Schn., 



67, or Carauna, Marcg-., 147; Bodianus apua, Bl. 229. 



(3) Epinephelus merra, Bl. 329; Holoc. pantherin, Lacep., Ill, xxvii, 3; Ser- 

 ranus bontoo, Cuv., Eussel, 128; Serr. suillus, Russ., 127; Labrus leopardus, 

 Lacep., Ill, XXX, 1; Hohc. salmono'ides, lb., XXXIV, 3; Bodianus melanurus, 

 Geoffr., Egypt., XXI, 1. 



(4) Scisenaformosa, Shaw, liussel, 129. 



(5) Holoc. tigrinus, BL, 237; Seb. Ill, xxvii; Hoi. lanceolatus, BL, 242, 1; 

 Jlntkias orientalis. Id., 326; Anth. striatus. Id. 324, which is also the Anth. cherna, 

 BL, Schn., Parra, XXIV; and the Spare chrysomelane, Lac^p. 



(6) Ser7-a7ius geographicus, Kuhl, Cuv. et Val., II, p. 322. 



(7) Serr anus Jlavo-caeruleus, Cuv., which is the Holoc. gymnose, Lacep., Ill, 

 xxvii, 2; his Bodian grosse tete, III, xx, 2, and his Holocentre jaune et bleu, IV, p. 

 369. It is also the Serran bourignon, Quoy et Gaym., Voy. Freycin., Zool., pi. 

 Ivii, 2. 



(8) Holocentrus ongus, BL, 234; Epinephelus marginalis, Bl. 328, or Holoc. 

 rosmare, Lacep., IV, vii, 2; Hoi. oceanique, Lacep., IV, vii, 3; Epinephelus 

 ruber, Bl., 331. For various other species, of which there are no figures, see de- 

 scriptions in the second volume of our History of Fishes. 



