SPAROID FISHES OF AMERICA AND EUROPE. 403 



knowledge of liis conclusions being limited to a nominal list publislied 

 by Prof. F. W. Putnam (Bulletin Mus. Oomp. Zool., 180:3, 12). 



In this list four generic names are recognized, two of them new, but 

 not defined, and hence not requiring notice. The si)ecies are thus 

 grouped : 



Hsemylnm, formosum { phtmieri) , elegans, arara {j)lumieri). 



Diabasis, alhus. 



AnartnostVLS,fJavol'nicafi(s, scrratm (parra). 



Bathystoma, melanariim {aurolineatnm), chrysoptcrum (rimator). 



Later, another genus, Brachygenys, likewise loft undefined, wns pro- 

 posed by Mr. Scu(hler for twiiiatitm Poey. It is mentioned by Poey 

 (Syn. Pise. Cubens., 1808, p. 319). We are unable to see any distinc- 

 tion whatever for the groups called Hwmulon, Diabasis, and A7iar- 

 mostus, and think that if these be recognized as genera most of the 

 remaining species should be elevated to the same rank. Bathystoma 

 and Brachygenys a^ve better differentiated, but neither in our opinion 

 should be regarded as a distinct genus. No advantage is likely to 

 come from such minute generic subdivision. Most writers have adopted 

 for this genus the very appropriate name of Hcemulon, given to it by 

 Cuvier in 1829. This nan^e is not strictly correct in its form, and it has 

 been sometimes, with a greater approach to classical exactness, written 

 Hcemulum, which is an abridgment of the full form, Hmmatulum. By 

 a curious blunder several purists have written Hmnylnm^ which is 

 much worse than Rwmulon. The name is expressly stated by Cuvier 

 to be derived from alixa^ blood, and oulo-^^ the singular of vvXa^ the gums. 



The name Diabasis of Desmarest (1823) has priority over ffwimdon, 

 and has been substituted for the latter by Bennett, Blocker, and 

 others. This name is, however, preoccupied in. Coleoptera by the genus 

 Biahasis, Hoffmannsegg, 1819. There appears, therefore, no doubt of 

 the propriety of the retention of the name Hamulon. Hwmtilon sciurus 

 (Shaw) {elegans Cuvier), the first species mentioned by Cuvier, may be 

 regarded as the type of the genus. Twenty species of Hcemulon are 

 recognized by ua as probably valid. These we arrange in live sec- 

 tions or subgenera, with the names Hcvmidon, Bathystoma^ Brachy- 

 genys, Lythrulon, and Orthostccchus, Of these, Hcemulon contains most 

 of the species and exhibits a greater range of variation than the 

 others. The young fishes in this group differ in proportions consider- 

 ably from the adults. Besides the changes usual in other fishes, we 

 may observe that in Hwmulon the young have the snout proiiortionally 

 much shorter, so that the maxillary, although also much shorter in 

 proportion, extends further back in comparison with the eye. Nearly 

 all the species have, when young, two more or less sharply defined, 

 dark, longitudinal stripes along the side, one or more along the top of 

 the head, and a dark spot at the base of the caudal. These markings 

 persist longer in some species than in others, but traces of them, at 

 least, may be found in the young of nearly all the species of HcvmiUon, 



