1264 Bulletin //, Lhiited States National Museum. 



Lutjanus torridus, Cope, Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. 1869, 468, St. Kitts. 



Lutjanus purpureus, Poey, Enumeratio, 29, 1875 (name taken from Mesoprion purpureus, 



CuviER & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ii, 471, 1828 ; the name purpureut evidently 



a slip of the pen for ay a). 

 Mesoprion aya, Cuvieb <fe Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ii, 457, 1828; Gunther, Cat., 



I, 198, 1859. 

 Lutjanus pro/iindus, Poey, Enumeratio, 28, 1875. 

 Lutjanua vivamis, Jordan, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1889, 648 ; Jordan & Fesler, I. c, 445. 



1640. NE05LEXIS AYA* (Bloch). 

 (Red Snapper; Pargo Colorado; Pargo Gdachinanqo; Acaea Aya.) 

 Head 23; depth 2|. D. X, 14; A. Ill, 9; scales (7) 8-60-15, pores 46. 

 Body rather deep, moderately compressed, the back well elevated, pro- 

 file steep, and almost straight from suout to nape. Snout rather pointed, 

 2} in head; eye moderate, 5i in head (larger in young). Interorbital 

 space angulate or strongly convex, 5 in head ; occipital keel strong ; pre- 

 orbital rather broad, 5 in head; mouth rather large, maxillary reaching 

 front of orbit, 2+ in head; upper jaw with a narrow band of villiform 

 teeth, outside of which is a row of larger but comparatively small teeth; 

 4 caniues iu front, 2 (sometimes duplicate) of them larger, their length 

 about 1^ diameter of eye; lower jaw with a single row of rather small 

 teeth, usually largest on side of jaw, where some of them are almost 

 caninelike; within these is a very narrow band of villiform teeth in front 

 of jaw only; tongue with a broad oval patch of teeth, scarcely twice as 

 broad as long; iu front of this patch is a small irregular patch ; vomer 

 with a broadly arrow-shaped patch, with a rather short backward pro- 

 longation on median line, its length about equaling width of patch in 

 front. Gill rakers moderate, their length about i diameter of eye, 8 on 

 lower arch. Preopercle with its posterior margin about vertical, its 

 emargiuation deep, its edge rather finely serrate above, coarser at the 

 angle, dentate on the lower border. Scales rather large, the rows hori- 

 zontal below lateral line, the rows above running backward and upward ; 6 

 rows of scales on cheek, 1 on the interopercle, 1 on subopercle, and 7 on 

 opercle ; bases of soft dorsal and anal scaly ; pores of lateral line branched ; 

 temporal region with a broad band of scales, with a few scattering ones 

 below it; top of head, snout, and jaws naked. Dorsal spines rather 

 strong, the outline of the fin moderately convex, the fourth and fifth 

 spines longest, 2*1" head; the tenth spine about 4 in head; margin of 

 soft dorsal nearly straight, the fin pointed behind; the middle rays little 

 longer than first ray, 1| length of last, 3 iu head ; caudal lunate, the upper 

 lobe scarcely longer than lower, its length If times length of middle rays, 



* The type of Mesoprion campechanus examined by us at Havana is a stufled skin of a 

 young fish, apparently belonging to this species. In this specimen the eye is larger than 

 it should be in a red snapper of that size, it being, as Poey has correctly stated, 4 iu head. 

 This large size is, however, probably due to the shrinkage of the orbit in drying. Poey 

 also counts "65 scales above the lateral line and 53 below," a larger number than others 

 count in this species. This difference is doubtless dependent on the method of counting. 

 The type of Lutjanus blackfordi is of course the present species, and the first good 

 description of the species is that published by Goode & Bean under this name. We are 

 forced, however, to adhere to our original view, that the name campechanvs certainly 

 belongs to the same fish, and the still older name aya is as well authenticated as the 

 names given by Bloch are likely to be. We can not' therefore make use of the name 

 blackfordi as the specific name of the red snapper. 



