238 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



horizontal below last rays of dorsal. Snout blunt; mouth oblique; maxillary broad and 

 scaly. Fins with a tendency to tihimentous production of the rays. Caudal forked. (Jor- 

 dan.) 



This genus has been found in deep water in the Pacific. Anthias megalepis, Giin- 

 ther,* was taken off the Ki Islands, at 140 fathoms, in company with the Centropristis 

 already referred to, and Anthias eos, Gilbert,t taken in the Gulf of California at 112 tathoms. 



A specimen (Oat. No. 37346, U. S. IST. M.) obtained by the Fish Eawl; has been mis- 

 placed, and cannot now be fully described. The name .ly(^/(/a.srt(/H//o«((r/.v has been pro- 

 posed by us for it. It is allied to Anthias oculutus, C. & V. 



A note indicates that the length of its head was equal to the height of its body, which 

 is contained 2^ times in the total length (without caudal). The diameter of the orbit is con- 

 tained 3| times in the head. The maxillary bone was naked, rather than scaled as in A. 

 oculatus; and the scales numbered 53 in the lateral line, 7 above and 14 below. The radial 

 formula was D. x, 11 ; A. iii, 8. 



A small specimen, possibly of the same species, was obtained by the Blake, off Domi- 

 nica, at station cvi, in 524 fathoms; but since this is less than 2 inches long and the 

 subject of the above note was 9, it is impossible to confirm the identification in the 

 absence of the larger specimen. 



POLYPRION, Cuvier. 



Poljiprion, CrviER, Ri-gne Auimal, 2iid ed., 1829, ii, 145. — Cuvier aud Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ii, 

 21. — GiJNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., i, 168. — Jordan aud Gilbert. Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. Mus., 532. — 

 Gill, Ceutury Dietiouary, 4609. 



Hectoria, Castelnau, Proc. Zoiil. Soc, Victoria, ll, 1873, 151. 



Serranoids having body oval, compressed, covered with small, ctenoid scales; head 

 large, rough, with numerous crests and furrows; operculum spiniferous, with spine- tipped 

 crest; preoperculum, subojierculum, and iuteroperculum denticulated. Snout short; mouth 

 large, oblique; teeth in villous bands upon the jaws, vomer, palatines and tongue. Bran- 

 chiostegals 7. Dorsal fin long, with 11 spines and 11 or 12 soft rays, the spines serrated. 

 Anal with strong spines. Tail rounded. 



POLYPRION AMERICANUM, (Schneider), Jordan. (Figure 238.) 



Le Mernu de Cap Breton , Duhamel du Monceau, Traits des Pesches, 1769, p. 38. 



Amphiiirion americuntim, Schneider, Bloch's Syst. Ichth., 205, pi. XLVii. 



Polyprion amcrkanum, JoRDAy, Cat. Fish. N. Anier., 1885 (1889), 83. 



Epinephelus ojcijgeueioa, Schneider, op. cit, 301. 



Polyprion oxygenius, Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, 532. 



Seorpiena massiliensis, Risso, Ichthyologie de Nice, 1810, 184. 



Holocentriis giilo, Risso, Hist. Nat. Eur. M^rid., 1826, ill, 367. 



Polyprion cernium, Valenciennes, M^m. du Muatsum, xi, 265, pi. xvii. — Cuvier .and Valenciennes, Hist. 



Nat. Poiss., Ill, 21, pi. XLii, viii, 475.— Yarrell, Brit. Fish, 2d ed., I, 19, fig. (ed. 3) ii, 124.— Swainson, 



Fishes, ii, 203. 

 Perca prognuthus, Forster, MS. 

 Polyprion prognathiia, GCnther, Ann. & Mag., Nat. Hist., 1887, 236. 



Serranids with body robust, elevated, its height two-fifths of its length and somewhat 

 compressed. Mouth large, the maxillary extending to vertical from posterior margin of orbit; 

 lower jaw longer. Supraocular region, scapula, .suprascapula, preopercle, and a ridge on 

 opercle spinigerous. Anal spines short, serrate anteriorly', the third much the longest. 

 Caudal rounded. 



Eadial formula: D. xi, 12; A. iii, 8. 



Color, brownish gray, the caudal with a white margin. 



This fish, the Gernivr, Cerniola, or Stone Bass of Europe, is found along the coa.sts of 



* Challenger Report, i, (Part vi), 37, pi. xvi, fig. G. 



i Pronotogrammua eos, Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xili, 62. 



