G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 317 



mer, in reg^ard to the bend of the articulations of the fore- 

 arm, and the omission of the metacarpal joint; that of the 

 latter, in the suppression of an entire joint of the hand, the 

 metacarpal part of the whole hand having been overlooked. 

 The number of fingers also appears to have been incorrectly 

 stated, the specimen of Professor Agassiz showing only three 

 short fingers in the hand and four perfect ones in the foot. 

 This is the case, at least, in the type of P. longirostris. 



A LARGE FISH. 



Messrs. Middleton, Carman, & Co., the well-known fish 

 dealers in the Fulton fish market, New York, received sev- 

 eral specimens of an enormous fish, known as the "Black 

 Groper." One of these, presented by them to the National 

 Museum at Washington, was identified by Professor Gill as 

 Promicrops guasa^ and belongs to the family Serrcmidce^ to 

 the typical genus of which {Serraniis) it was originally re- 

 ferred. It is an inhabitant of Cuban waters and the West 

 India seas, but has not hitherto been satisfactorily identi- 

 fied as occurring on the coast of the United States, although 

 the young may perhaps have been described under another 

 name. 



These fish, it is reported, were taken in shad seines, in the 

 mouth of the St. John's River, Florida, and must have been 

 almost a match for their captors, as the one presented to the 

 National Museum weighed 750 pounds, and had a length of 

 nearly eight feet, w^ith a circumference of about seven. In 

 form and general appearance it somewhat resembles the sea- 

 bass, but has small eyes, placed much farther forward, and 

 the tail fin is round ; as indicated by the name, the color is 

 almost black. Nothing special is on record in regard to its 

 habits, unless it be the fish referred to in Elliot's "Sports of 

 North Carolina," as " of gigantic size." The flesh of this fish 

 is excellent, though rather coarse, and brings a good price in 

 the Havana market. They may probably be considered as 

 amoncK- the laro-est of the marine fishes on the coast of Amer- 

 ica, exceeded only by the sharks and rays, and by species of 

 the sword-fish and tunny groups. 



A cast has been made at Washington of the specimen, 

 which, with the skeleton, will be placed on exhibition. 



