294 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



5. Haemulon acutum. Sailors^ choice ; Boneo Blanco; Bastard Margaret, 



Hwrnulon canna, Agassiz, Spix, Pise. Brasil., 1829, p. 130, pi. 69 (not of C. & V.) 

 HcBmulon ehromis, GCnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., i, 310 (Bahia; Jamaica); 



not of C. «fc V. 

 Diabasia ehromis, Jordan &. Gilbert, Syn. Fish N. A., 1883, 924 (Garden 



Key) ; Bean, Cat. Fish, Exp., London, 1883, 58 (Garden Key). 

 Hcemulon acutum, POEY, Memoriae de Cuba, ii, 180, 354, 1860 (Cuba); Poey, 



Synopsis, 315, 1868; Poey, Enumeratio, 45, 1875; Bean and Dresel, 



Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 158 (Jamaica). 

 Hcemulon albidum, Poey, Memorias, ii, 181, 1860 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 



316, Poey, Enumeratio, 46. 

 Hcemulon serratum, Poey, Memorias, ii, 181, 1860 (Cuba) ; POEY, Synopsis, 317 ; 



Poey, Enumeratio, 46 ; Poey, Anal. Hist. Nat. Madrid, 1881, 201 (Puerto 



Rico). 

 Anarmostua serratus, Putnam, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 12, 1863 (name only). 

 Hcemulon parrce, Jordan, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 1884; Jordan, Proc. U. 



S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 126 (Key West) (not of Desmarest.) 

 ^Hcemulon breinrostrum, GWnther, Fishes, Centr. Amer., 1869, 419 (in part; 



specimen from Puerto Cabello). 



Habitat. — West Indies ; Southern Florida to Brazil. 



Head, 3 (3§) ; depth, 2§ (3i). D. XII, 17; A. Ill, 7. Scales, 5-50- 

 14. Length, 10^ inches. 



Body comparatively deep, the back compressed and arched ; anterior 

 profile rather steep and convex ; steep and nearly straight from tip of 

 snout to opposite front of eye ; here an obtuse angle is formed, and to the 

 base of dorsal there is a rather even curve. In other specimens there is 

 little orno prominence before eye. Snout comparatively high and obtuse, 

 its length in specimens of moderate size 3 in head. Snout shorter in 

 young specimens than in the adult, the maxillary in the young extending 

 farther back although proportionately shorter. Mouth rather small for 

 the genus, the maxillary usually extending a little beyond vertical from 

 front of eye, in young nearly to middle of eye, its length 2f in head ; 

 maxillary in adult barely reaching front of eye. Jaws subequal,'the 

 lower slightly included. Teeth rather strong, in moderate bands, the 

 outer large, the antrorse teeth of the posterior part of lower jaw well 

 developed. 



Eye large, 4 in head. Interorbital space convex, its width 4J in head. 

 Preorbital rather deep, its least breadth 5§ in head. Preopercle finely 

 but sharply serrate, the teeth near the angle further apart than the 

 others but scarcely larger. In regard to the serration of the preopercle 

 we find much variation among our specimens, some of those from Cuba 

 corresponding more or less perfectly to serratum, Poey, have the preo- 

 percle always strongly serrate, while others, certainly corresponding to 

 acutum, Poey, have the serrations very inconspicuous. The Key West 

 specimens are in this respect mostly intermediate, and none of them 

 show any other distinctive character correlated with the differences 

 in the preopercle. 



Gill-rakers small, about 15 on lower part of arch. Scales rather large, 



