462 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Subfamily IV.-HiEMULINiE. 



XII. H^MULON. 



Diabasis * Dosmarcst, Promii"^ro Dt^cadc Ichthyologi(iue, 1823, 34 {parra; fiarolineaUts; 



not of Iloffinannsegfj, Colcoptora, 1819). 

 Haemulon Cuvicr, Rri^no Animal, cil. 2, 1829 {clegans, etc.). 

 Orthostoechus Gill, I'roc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1802, 255 (macitUcaHdit). 

 Hasmylum (Scudder Mss.) Putnam, Bull. M. C. Z., 1863, 12 (elegans, etc.). 

 Diabasis (Scudder Mss.) Putnam, 1. c. (album; name only). 

 Anarmostus (Scudder MSS.) Putnam, 1. c. (name only; flavolineatiim, etc.). 

 Bathystoma (Scudder mss.) Putnam, 1. c. (name only; jcniguano, etc.). 

 Brachygenys (Scudder mss.) Poey, Synopsis Piscium Cubonsium, 1868, 319 (name 



only; ta')iiatum). 

 Lythrulon Jordan & Swain, Proc. U. S. N. M. 1884, 287 (Jlavognttatum). 

 Haemulon Cuv. & Val., Giinther, Gill, Poey, Goode, etc. 

 Diabasis Bennett, Bleeker et auct. 



Type: Hcemulon elegans Gw.y\qv= Spamn sci urns Sliaw. 



Etymology: «!//«, blood; ou^jr^, tlie singular of t>uXa, the gums. 



All tbe species of Ha'mulon are American. The genus is very closely 

 related to Pomadasis Lac6pede {=Pristipoma Cuv.), the only tangible 

 jioints of difference being the large mouth with curved gape and the 

 closely scaled soft dorsal and anal fins. All the species have more or 

 less of orange on the inside of the mouth, a trait of coloration not found 

 in Pomadasis. The amount of redness is greatest in those species hav- 

 ing the largest mouth. It is true that certain species of Pomadasis 

 {Jiumilis, etc.) have the mouth larger than in certain species of Ha'mu- 

 lon [clirysargyreum). It is also true tliat while the soft dorsal and anal 

 in many of the species referred to Pomadasis are free from scales, in 

 certain of the subgenera or genera related to the latter genus {BracJiy- 

 deuterusj Anisotrcmus) these fins are liardly less scaly than in Ha'mulon. 

 It is probably also true that certain si)eciesof Uamulon {clirysargyrcum) 

 are more closely reflated to species of tlu^ section Brachydciitcrus 

 {axillaris, nitidus, leuciscus) than this section is to some other spe- 

 cies usually placed in the same genua. There is no doubt, however, 

 that the species of Hwrnnlon form a natural grouj), and no writer since 

 Desmarest and Cuvier has (piest ioncd the right of this group to generic 

 rank. It has been generally conceded that the group \\\\\ not admit 

 of furtlu>r subdivision. The most aberrant of the species [macKlicauda) 

 was, in 1802, recognized by Dr. Gill as the type of a distinct genus, 

 Orthostachus, distinguislied by the arrangement of its scales. In 1862 

 these fishes were the subject of an elaborate study by Mr. Samuel H. 

 Scudder. Nothing has, however, been i)ublislied by this writer, our 



* Le poisson que je viens de d6crire me paralt, selon les principes de classification 

 iclithyolo<?ique de M. Cuvier, devoir former un genre !\ part. .Je lui donnc Ic nom 

 de Diahaxia, Si.ui^aair (Iraimtio), pour indiquor scs rapports, d'uno part, aveo les 

 Acanlhopliryijicnn dcs f^enres Lutjan et Pristipome, et de I'autro avec les poissons 

 pluciJB dana la famille dcs S(iuamip«uues. (Desmarcst.) 



