1174 Bulletin 4J, United States National Museum. 



body and red on the belly ; mouth red within ; pectoral broadly edged 

 with orange red, otherwise plain ; no other bright colors anywhere; soft 

 parts of vertical fins largely black. 



(6) Color in life of an example about 2 feet in length : Intense scarlet red 

 above, grayer below ; above, small black spots ; below, larger red ones ; 

 base of dorsal and caudal deep red; edge of dorsal, caudal, and anal black; 

 pectoral spotted at base, then blackish, thence broadly yellow. 



(c) Color in life of specimens 8 inches in length : Scarlet brown above, 

 the color varying from vermilion to gray, becoming grayish in spirits; 

 sides light gray ; the ground color forming rivulations around quadrate 

 blotches of black ; belly and lower part of head scarlet ; blotches above 

 and on sides black; the upper ocellated with red; those on sides, below 

 lateral line, presenting the appearance of interrupted horizontal bands ; 

 the blotches below all vermilion, separated by rivulations of ground color; 

 lower jaw yellowish, with red blotches ; pectorals yellow ; the fins other- 

 wise all marbled with red and black ; the vertical fins with grayish rivu- 

 lations, edged with black and tipped with white. In spirits the scarlet 

 and red above become gray, the vermilion below, whitish. With age the 

 large quadrate blotches on the sides and below gradually break up into 

 smaller spots, and in time the coloration of a and & is reached. West 

 Indies, Florida Keys, and southward to Brazil, in deeper water than the 

 true venenosus, from which only the color separates it. Whether this and 

 similar color forms should be regarded as subspecies, as distinct species, 

 or should be totally ignored in systematic literature is a question not 

 easily settled. For the present we let them stand as subspecies, but do 

 not regard this view of the case as satisfactory. We have never seen a 

 specimen intermediate between apiia and venenosa, nor can any doubt 

 exist ill the determination of specimens. {Apua or Apia, a Brazilian name; 

 Pirati apia, according to Marcgrave.) 



Piraii apici, Marcgrave, Hist. Brasil, 1G48, 158, Brazil. 



Bodianns apua, Bi.ocir, Icbth., vii, 37, taf. 229, 1790, Brazil (after a drawing by Prince Maurice 



of Nassau — the same used by Marcgrave). 

 Bonacl cardeual, Parra, Piezas de Hist. Nat. Cuba, 29, pi. xvi, 1787, Havana, 

 Johuius guttatus, Blocu & Schneider, Syst. Ichthyol., 77, 1801 (after Parba). 

 Bodiamis marginattis. Block & Schneider, /. c, 331 (after Marcgrave). 

 Serranus cardimdis, CuviER & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ii, 378, 1828 (after Parra). 

 Serranus rtipestrix, Cl'Vier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ix, 437, 1833, San Domingo; 



GtJNTHER, Cat., I, 145, 1859, 

 Tnsotrapis cardinalis, Poey, Enumeratio, 13, 1875. 



Mi/deroperca venenosa guttata, Jordan & Swain, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 375, 

 Mycterc^yerca venenosa aima, Jordan & Eigenmann, I. c, 370, 1890. 



1564. MTCTEROPERCA BONACI (Poey). 

 (BoNAci Arara ; Black Grouper ; AGUA.ri.) 



* Head2f ; depth 3i; eye moderate, 6 in head (young). D. XI, 16 to 18; 

 A. Ill, 11 or 12 ; scales 18-120 to 125-.50, pores 70 to 85. Body compara- 

 tively slender, a little more robust than in M. microlepis, its breadth 2J in 

 its depth ; head moderate, rather pointed, its anterior x)rotile little curved ; 



