PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 391 



Poey has rejected the earlier name apua, ou account of the erroneous 

 ligure given by Bloch (seven dorsal spines, &c.), and has preferred the 

 name lunulatus. But this latter name seems to us an untenable one in 

 any case, although no doubt exists as to its proper identification with 

 this species. Bloch & Schneider describe a Lutjanus hmulatus Park. 

 Then lower down on the same page, among the species duhice, is a second 

 Lutjanus lunulatus based on the Cahrilla of Parra. By what accident 

 or misi)rint this arrangement was brought abont, we do not know. We 

 do not, however, think that the second of these duplicated names should 

 be accepted. 



The figure of Bloch is exceedingly bad, showing nine dorsal spines^, 

 the body scarlet, marked with jet black spots, &c. The only fairly dis- 

 tinctive feature shown is that of the black margins of the vertical fins, 

 and this feature is shown equally by Mycteroperca venenosa guttata^ a 

 species which in some respects agrees better with the figure than the 

 present sjiecies does. If we reject the name apua, and its synonym, mar- 

 ginatus, as perhaps we ought to do, the oldest tenable name of the spe- 

 cies will be Epineplielus catusj C. & V. 



24. Epinephelus ascensionis. CabraMora; Rock Hind. 



? Pixa pixanga, Marcgrave, Hist. Brazil, &c,, 1648, 152 (Brazil; probably 

 belongs here). 



Trachinvs ascensionis, Osbeck, Reise in China, &c., 1757, and English edi- 

 tion 1771, 96 (Ascension Island). 



Epinephelus ascensionis, Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 125 (Key West). 



Tracliinus punctatus or Trachinus ascensionis, Bonnaterre, Tableau Encycl. 

 Method., 1788, 46 (after Osbeck). 



? Perca stellio, Walbaum, Artedi Piscium, 1792, 349 (after Seba). 



Holocentrus punctatus, Bloch, Ichthyol. (about 1792), viii, taf. 241 (very bad, 

 after Marcgrave). 



Epineplielus punctatus, Poey, Enum. Pise. Cubens., 1875, 16 (Cuba); Poey, 

 Anales Soc. Hist. Nat. Madrid, 1881, 319 (Madrid). 



Perca maculata, Bloch, Ichthyol. (about 1795), taf. 313 (very bad ; on a figure 

 by Plumier ; not Holocentrus macuJatus, Bloch, tafel 242, an East Indian 

 species of IipinepheJus= Holocentrus alhofuscus, Lac). 



Serranus maculatus, Peters, Berliner Monatsber., 1865, 109 (identification of 

 Perca maculata, Bloch). 



Trachinus osheck, Lac6pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss. (after Osbeck). 



Sparus atlanticus, Lac^pfede, iv, 158, pi. 5, f. i, 1803 Chased ou a copy of Plu- 

 mier's drawing). 



Epinephelus atlanticus, Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 918 and 973. 



Serranus nif/riculus, Cuv. & Val., ii, 375, 1828 (Martinique). ■ 



? Serranus pixanga, Ciiv. & Val., ii, 383, 1828 (based ou Marcgrave); Poey> 

 Repertorio, i, 203. 



Serranus impetiginosus, Muller& Troschel, Schomburgk'sHist. Barb., 665, 1848; 

 Giinther, i, 142, 18.59 (Trinidad.) ; Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 

 225 (St. Helena; name only) ; Giinther, Shore Fishes, Challenger, 1880, 5 

 (Ascension); Steiudachner, Ichth. Beitr., v., 127,1876 (Bahia; Maranhao). 



Serranus maculatus var. impetiginosus, Peters, Berl. Monatsber., 1865, 110. 



Epinephelus impetiginosus, Poey, Repertorio, i, 201 ; Poey, Syn. Pise. Cubens., 

 286, 1868 (Cuba) ; Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883. 



