FISHES OF THE PHOENIX AND SAMOAN ISLANDS 107 



115377, Rose Isluiul, reef, June 11 to 14, 1939, 49 specimens. 



115374, Canton Island, reef at ocean, April 25 to 28, 1939, 5 specimens. 

 115376, Hull Island, channel, July 8-12, 1939, 22 si)ecimens. 



115370, Tau Island, reef at Siulagi Point, June 27, 1939, 23 specimens. 



115375, Swains Island, reef, May 3 to 9, 1939, 34 specimens. 

 52379, Apia, Samoa, Jordan and Kellogg, 2 specimens. 

 83-170, Samoa, "Wilkes Exploring Expedition, 1 specimen. 



Among the specimens listed above are to be found two color pat- 

 terns, one with a pale pectoral distally and a reticulated color pattern 

 basally, along with v\hite spots helping to make up the pale areas or 

 lines around the hexagonal blackish or brownish spots; the second color 

 pattern, with some specimens intergrading from the first to the second 

 color pattern, has a black or brown spotted pectoral, and the hexagonal 

 color pattern is replaced by brownish blotches ventrally; on many 

 specimens the hexagonal color pattern is replaced by the brownish 

 blotches or spots on head, body, and fins. The specimens that I am 

 referring to Epinephelus merra resemble closely figures A and B, plate 

 7, in Giinther's "Fische der Siidsee," Serranus hcxagonatus. Other 

 specimens similar to those listed above, but a distinct form, are dis- 

 cussed under the next species, E. hexagonatus. 



EPINEPHELUS HEXAGONATUS (Bloch) 

 Holocentrus hcxagonatus Brocu, in Schneider, Systema ichthyologiae, p. 323, 1801. 



115383, Hull Island, channel, July 7-17, 1939, 5 specimens. 



115380, Tutuila Island, reef at Alofau, June 3, 1939, 38 specimens. 

 115386, Tutuila Island, reef at Pagai, June 4, 1939, 21 specimens. 



115382, Tutuila Island, reef at entrance Pago Pago Bay, June 2, 1939, 4 

 specimens. 



115379, Canton Island, lagoon, April 23 to INIay 12, 1939, 7 sijecimens. 



115381, Canton Island, lagoon. May 23 to 26, 1939, 4 specimens. 



115378, Hull Island, channel, July 8-12, 1939, 6 specimens. 

 52445, Apia, Samoa, Jordan and Kellogg, 10 specimens. 



The specimens listed above differ from those called E. meiv'a in hav- 

 ing two or three rows of teeth on the sides of the mandible instead of 

 several rows; the pectoral is somewhat pointed instead of broadly 

 rounded ; the pectoral and caudal are never white-edged posteriorly on 

 hexagonatus as in inerra; the hexagonal spots join on the sides to form 

 blocks of blackish or brownish areas in this species, but in merra each 

 hexagonal spot is separated by a pale network of lines; no black 

 blotches occur along the base of the dorsal, although certain hexagonal 

 blotches are darkened to form four or five bars across the body. In 

 general, plate 301, figure 2, Epinephelus hexagonatus^ in Bleeker's 

 Atlas is a fair picture of the color pattern, but the pectoral is not so 

 pointed in this figure as in my specimens; the black blotches also occur 

 on the dorsal part of the eye, and these are not shown by Bleeker. 



