474 REPORT (n'\ COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



42. HiEMULON SCIURUS. (Yellow Grunt ; Ronco Amaiillo.) 



Anihia;: funno-iiiH lilocli, li'htbyol., tiif. 323, 17itO (Antilles); BlocU & Schueitk-r, Syst. 



Iclitliyul.. ISOl, 'M)'). (Not Perca J'onnusa L., with which it is identified; 



tln^ latter is Dijih-ctriiiit fonnonum.) 

 Spariis KciiiriiH Shaw, (ieueral Zoology, iv, 1803, \tl. (U (base.l on tin- discriiition uud 



ligiire of Hlocli). 

 i/rp»iH/oH sc/fOHs, Jordan, Proc. U. S. N. M. 1884, 12(i (Key West) ; Jordan A: Swain, 



i.e., 301. 

 Ha-mulon clnjans Cuvier, Regue Auinial, 1829 (no description; on the figure of 



Bloch) ; Cuv. & Yal., v, 227, 1830; Gunther, i, 1859, 300 (Jamaica) ; Putnam, 



Bull. M. C. Z., 1863, 12 (name only); Poey, Reportorio, i, 3W), 18G7; Cope, 



Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1871, 471 (St. Croix). 

 Diabanis clerjans, Jordan ct Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 923 (specimen from Aspinwall) ; 



Bean, Cat. Fish. Exh. London, 1883, 58 (Key West). 

 Diahax'in ohluinatim Bennett, Zoological Journal, London, v, 1835, 90 (Jamaica). 

 Hamiilon hiteiiin. Poey, Memorias, ii, 174, 354, 18(30 (Cuba) ; I'oey, Synoi)sis, 317; Poey, 



Enumeratio, 44; Poey, Anales Hist. Nat., :\Iadrld, 1881, 201 (Puerto Rico). 

 Hwrnulon mnltilinmlum Poey, Memorias, ii, 178, 1800 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 318; 



Poey, Enumeratio, 44, 

 Hfemulon hians Haly, Ann. Nat. Hist., 1875, xv, 208 (Bahia). 



Habitat : West Indies ; Florida Keys to Brazil. 



Etymology: 8cinnis, squirrel, from the oruiiting noise. The species 

 was confounded by Shaw with the sqiiirrel-tish, Holocentrus ascenscionis. 



This species is <'ommon both at Key West and Havana, aiidis known 

 as the "yelloAV grunt" or ^^ ronco amariUoy It is sometimes called 

 the "boar grunt" by lishermeu, who imagine it to be the male of H. 

 plumieri. It was first noticed by Bloch, who called it AnthiasformosHS, 

 identifying it incori-ectly with Perca formosa ot Linnanis. Shaw, who 

 still sujiposed it to be Perca formosa of Linnieus, changed this name 

 iirbitrarily to ySparus sciurns. A fair description and figure are given, 

 taken, we believ<', iVom Bloch. In our o])inion the name seiiirus should 

 be retained for tlu^ spe<-ies, althougli so far as Shaw was cctncerned its 

 introducti<)n was a ineve of meddling impertinence. Shaw's synonymy 

 includes the l^inna'an fish, and the name sciunis is taken from the com- 

 mon name (s(juirrel-fish) of the latter. The species which he had iu 

 mind, is, however, the present one, and it had before him received no 

 tenable S])e(ific nanu'. This confusion was first detected by Cuvier, 

 who, however, failed to discriminate between the Linna'.an type {ISerramis 

 formosus) and the figure of Catesby (representing Hwmulon plumieri), 

 refened by Linna'us to the sanu^ species. Cuvier called the species 

 elegans. Later Poey, on the basis of inaccuracies in coloration iu a 

 plate rei)resenting- JI. elcf/ans, has considered the Cuban fish as distinct 

 under the name of luteum, while a pale variety discussed above has 

 been called multilineatum. There is no doubt that both of these names 

 shcmld be regarded as synonyms of elef/ans. The DiaJxtsis ohliquatKS of 

 Bennett is much more like this species than any other of the genus yet 

 known. We think that it belongs here, though the blue stripes are 

 rei)resented as more obliciue and more numerous than Ave have ever 

 seen them. Specimens are in the museum at Cambridge from Havana, 

 Porto Seguro, St. Thomas, Bernuula, and Puerto Rico. 



