1304 Bulletin / 7 , I hi Ued Sta tes Na tional Muscu m . 



mouth deep red, no black under angle of preopercle; tins yellow; pec- 

 torals and veutrals little yellow. Color in life notably different from 

 that of H. sciurns, but the difference consists really in the absence of 

 dusky shading and disappears entirely in spirits, these specimens being 

 now scarcely distinguishable from the ordinary H. scinrus. West Indies; 

 Florida Keys to Brazil ; everywhere common in the West Indies j a hand- 

 some species, reaching a length of 18 inches, (scim-us, squirrel, from the 

 grunting noise of Diplectrnm formosum, with which species it was early 

 confounded). 



Anthias fonnosits, Bloch, Ichthyol., pi. 323, 1790, Antilles; not ['erca foryno.ia, Linn^US, 

 with wldch it is icleutitied; the latter i.s Diplectiumfoi-monnn. 



Sparus sciurus, Shaw, General Zoology, iv, \A. 64, 1803, Antilles; based ou the descrip- 

 tion and figure of Bloch. 



Hmmulon elegans, Civier, R^gne Animal, Ed. 2, ii, 175, 1829; no description; based on 

 the figure by Block ; Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 227, 1830; Gun- 

 THER, Cat.,L306-. 



?Diahasi.i ohliqtiatus* Bennett, Zoological Journal London, v, 1835, _ 90, Jamaica. Blue 

 stripes on body .said to be oblique, the description not corresponding fully to this or 

 any other known species. 



? Hcemulon sirnilis, Castelnau, Auim. Nom. Rares, ii, 1855, Bahia; description very imper- 

 ■ feet. 



Hcemulon luteum, Poey, Memorias, ii, 174, 1860, Cuba. / •' 



Hcemulon imiUilineatum, Poey, Memorias, u, 178, 1860, Cuba. ^i^*^ '''''• "^ ^ 



Hcemulon hiaim, Haly, Ann. Nat. Hist., xv, 1875, 268, specimen from AsjiiiwraH. 



Diabasis elegans, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 923. 



Hcemvlon scinrus, Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus 1884, 126; Jordan & Swain, I. c, 301. 



Hcemulon sciurug, Jordan & Fesler, I. c, 474, 1893. 



1672. H.EMULON PLUMIERI (LacepMe). 



(Common Grunt ; Ronco Ronco; Ronco ArarA.) 



Head 2|; depth 2t; eye small, 5 to 6 in head. D. XII, 16; A. Ill, 8; 

 scales 5-50-17. Body moderately elongate, the back elevated and some- 

 what compressed ; head long, the snout sharp and projecting, its length 2! 

 in head; anterior profile more or less S-shaped, nearly straight from tiji of 

 snout to before eye, there concave, and thence gibbous to the front of 

 dorsal, old specimens having the nape more gibbous than young ones. 



* The following is Bennett's description of— 



"Diabasis obliijuatus.— Diabasis jfavet,cens, capite vittis coeruleis duodecim, corpore 

 lineis coeruleis obliquis nuuierosis. Dorsal Jj; pectoral 16; ventral },-, anal f, ; caudal 

 16. On a yellowish, somewhat fuscous, ground (pciliaps altend b\ tlie spirit, in wliich 

 the specimen has been immersed for about tlirce iiioni lis) ; the iiiavkiiii^s an- jialc blue, in 

 numerous vittSB; thoseon the head and opercula, wliirh an- snincwlial liio.iilcr and more 

 deeply coloured than those of the body, are nearly lon;;ituilinal. aliout t\v(h(< in number; 

 those of the body are oblique, directed upward and backward. The latter are formed 

 bylines passing across the middle of each scale, and are consequently numerous, not less 

 than sixteen or seventeen being crossed by a line drawn from the.i unction of the spinous 

 and soft portions of the dorsal fin to the bellv in front of the anus. On the tail, behind 

 the dorsal and anal fins, the markings become longitudinal, in about nine rows. The fins, 

 especially their scaly, soft portions, are move fuscous tlian the body; into these the mark- 

 ings do not extend.' The lateral line, deflected ojiposite to tlie extremity of the dorsal 

 tin, is yellow, ana is aeconipanied below liv a blue line; a similar line, but more distinct, 

 passes along its upper edite. The caudal iin is forked; the spines of the dorsal are fila- 

 mentous. The front iiiul.xtreme teeth in each Jaw, especially in the upper, are longer 

 and stronger than tlui others, and are somewhat hooked, a variance from the generic 

 mark ' dents en velours' indicated by M. Cuvior." 



