422 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The family comprises about 55 genera and some 450 species, cbiefly 

 inhabiting the shores of warm regions. All of them are valued as food. 

 They are known by a great variety of names, many of them being varia- 

 tions of the Greek -«>/)"?, which becomes Pargus, Pargo, Porgie, Pogy, 

 etc. The names Snapper and Grunt are also applied to many species. 

 The group is closely related to the tHcrramda' on tlie one hand, the genus 

 Xeni.siius being very close to the Serranoid genus Kuhlia: on the other 

 hand, Scorpis, Ky^yhosm, etc., approach the Ghcctodontidcc. 



The material on which tlie present paper is based is jjrimarily that 

 contained in the collection of tlie University of Indiana. All the ma- 

 terial in the jNIuseum of Comparative Zoology has also been examined, 

 and much of that in the United States National Museum, as well as the 

 collections of tlie Leland Stanford Junior University. A large share 

 of the material in the British Museum and in the Museum at Paris has 

 also been carefully comi)ared. 



The work of preparing this review was begun in 1888, but the junior 

 author having been called away from Bloomington its com])letion was 

 deferred. Later, increased executive duties on the part of both au- 

 thors rendered its completion difficult, and it has been thought best to 

 ])ublish it in its present unfinished condition i-ather than to wait for a 

 time of leisure sufficient for its completion. It is hoped that it may 

 serve as a basis for further study in the important group of which it 

 treats. In several of the genera a detailed synonymy of the species is 

 not attempted, only an outline being given. For purposes of compari- 

 son, tlie European genera are included, and a list of European species 

 in each genus is appended. The names of genera not found in America 

 are inclosed in brackets in the following analysis. 



Tlie Sjjaridw of America and Europe seem to fiill naturally into 

 twelve AS ell-marked subfamilies, which may be thus compared: 



ANALYSIS <»K SUBFAMILIES OF Sl'ARID.K. 



I. Cinuivorous sjiecies; intestinal canal of moderate length; teeth in the jaws not 

 all incisor-like; verteln\e nsually 10+15. 

 a. Sitines of ]»reniaxi]lary not extending to the oecijtnt; tlie mouili moderately 

 protractile. 

 i. V(»nier with teeth. 



0. Teeth in jaw.s nnecjual, some of them more or less canine-like. (\o distinct* 



tiilierrles from the craninm for the articnlation of the epipharyn- 



-geal bones; enlarged apophyses for the articulation of palatine 



and preorl)ital bones; anterior four vertebra? without parapo- 



pliyses; maxillary long, formed essentially as in the Serranida:) 



d. No.strils remote from each other; the anterior tubular, near the end of the 



snout; vomerine teeth coarse, molar; teeth in jaws large, the 



lateral teeth molar; (skull as in Lutjanino') . .Hovj.oVAnnm.K, I. 



dd. Nostrils mmr together, placed just before eye, the anterior not tubular; 



vomerine teetli villiform, the patch /\, ^, or A shaped; teeth in 



jaws all acute; no incisors or molars Lut.janin.e, II. 



*See Gill, Proc. V. S. Nat. Mus. 1884, 3.".1. 



