138 TELEOSTEI : ACANTIIOriERI. — XX. 



164. CERNA Bonaparte. Groiters. (Epinephelus authors, not 



of BkH-h.) (Italian name for the jjenus.) 

 a. Second dorsal spine high, not lower than third or fourth; C. lunate. 



377. C. morio ^ (Cuv. and Val.) Red Grouper. PrcojX'rcular 

 an^le little salient, without enlarged teeth. Brown, clouded with 

 whitish ; lower parts flushed with orange-red ; small dark spots 

 about eye ; vertical fins broadly edged with black. Head 2i ; depth 

 3. D.'XI, 17. A. Ill, 9. Lat. 1. 106. L. 3 feet. West Indies, 

 sometimes N. to X. Y. (French, merou f) 



Family LXV. LOBOTID^. (The Flashers.) 



This family is closely allied to the SerraniiltE, from which it dif- 

 fers chiefly in the absence of teeth on the vomer and palatines. 

 The lips are thick, the upper jaw very protractile, the lower longer, 

 and the bases of the high soft dorsal and anal thickened and scaly. 

 The single species is a large fish, found in most warm seas. 



165. LOBOTES Cuvicr. (Xo^drTjr. lobed.) 



378. L. surinamensis (Blixh). Flasher. Tru'LE-tail. 

 Head small, the anterior profile concave, the back elevated. 

 Blackish above, sides grayish, often blotched with yellowish. Head 

 3; depth 2^. D. XII, 18. A. Ill, 11. Lat. l'. 47. L. 3 feet 

 Tropics, frequently X. to X. Y. 



Family LXVI. SPARID^. (The Porgies.) 



Body oblong or elevated, with adherent scales which are usually 

 scarcely ctenoid. Mouth various, usually terminal, the teeth of vari- 

 ous forms. Premaxillaries protractile ; maxillary for its whole length 

 slip]>ing into a sheath formed by the edge of the preorbital ; gills and 

 gill membranes normal ; pseudobranehia? large. Preopercle serrate 

 or not ; opercle unarmed. Dorsal fin usu.iUy continuous, with 8 to 

 13 sjnnes ; anal spines 3. V. normal, usually with an enlarged scale 

 at base ; lateral line continuous, not extending on C. Air-bladder 

 presc nt. Fishes of the warm seas, some carnivorous, others herbi- 

 vorous, the latter with very long intestines. As here understcKxl, a 

 rather heterogeneous group of some GO genera and nearly 500 

 species, distinguished as a whole from the SerranUlfT chiefly by the 

 sheathed maxillary. Probably the group needs further subdivision. 

 ((mdpos, Sparus, ancient name.) 



a. Species carnivorous, with short intestines and few pyloric ca>ca; teeth not 

 all incisor-like. 

 b. Vomer with teeth; no incisors or molars; jaws with canines; D. con- 

 tinuous. (Lutjnnina.) 



* Numerous related species of Crma und FpinrpMns occur off our Southern Cnsst, 

 and corae to the nnrthem markets. For an accuuut o( these, sec Jordan & Swain, 

 Proc. O. S. N*L Mus. 1834. 



