1304 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



mouth deep red, no black under angle of preopercle; fins yellow; pec- 

 torals and ventrals little yellow. Color in life notably different from 

 that of H. sciurus, but the difference consists really in the absence of 

 dusky shading and disappears entirely in spirits, these specimens being 

 now scarcely distinguishable from the ordinary H, sciurus. West Indies; 

 Florida Keys to Brazil; everywhere common in the West Indies; a hand- 

 some species, reaching a length of 18 inches, (sciurus, squirrel, from the 

 grunting noise of Diplectrum formosum, with which species it was early 

 confounded). 



Anthias formosus, BLOCK, Ichthyol., pi. 323, 1790, Antilles; not Perca formosa, LINNAEUS, 

 with which it is identified; the latter is Diplectrum formosum, 



Sparus sciurus, SHAW, General Zoology, iv, pi. 64. 1803, Antilles; based on the descrip- 

 tion and figure of BLOCH. 



Hcemulon elegans, CUVIER, Regne Animal, Ed. 2, n, 175, 1829; no description; based on 

 the figure by BLOCK; CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 227, 1830; GUN- 

 THEB, Cat., i, 306. 



? Diabasis obliquatus,* BENNETT, Zoological Journal London, v, 1835, 90, Jamaica. Blue 

 stripes on body said to be oblique, the description not corresponding fully to this or 

 any other known species. 



? Hcemulon similis, CASTELNAU, Aiiim. Nom. Rares, n, 1855, Bahia; description very imper- 

 fect. 



Hcemulon luteum, POEY, Memorias, n, 174, 1860, Cuba. 



Hcemulon multilineatum, POEY, Memorias, n, 178, 1860, Cuba. 



Hcemulon Mans, HALY, Ann. Nat. Hist., xv, 1875, 268, specimen from Aspinwall. 



Diabasis elegans, JOED AN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 923. 



Hcemulon sciurus, JORDAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1884, 126; JORDAN & SWAIN, I. c., 301. 



Hcemulon sciurus, JORDAN & FESLER, I. c., 474, 1893. 



1672. HjEMULON PLUMIERI (Lacepede). 

 (COMMON GRUNT; RONCORONCO; RONCO ARARA.) 



Head 2f ; depth 2f ; eye small, 5 to 6 in head. D. XII, 16; A. Ill, 8; 

 scales 5-50-17. Body moderately elongate, the back elevated and some- 

 what compressed; head long, the snout sharp and projecting, its length 2 

 in head; anterior profile more or less S-shaped, nearly straight from tip of 

 snout to before eye, there concave, and thence gibbous to the front of 

 dorsal, old specimens having the nape more gibbous than young ones. 



* The following is Bennett's description of 



"Diabasis obliquatus. Diabasis fave^cens, capite vittis cosruleis duodecim, corpore 

 lineis cceruleis obliquis numerosis. Dorsal \%; pectoral 16; ventral & ; anal T 3 ? ; caudal 

 16. On a yellowish, somewhat fuscous, ground (perhaps altered by the spirit, in which 

 the specimen has been immersed for about three mouths) ; the markings are pale blue, in 

 numerous vittse; those on the head and opercula, which are somewhat broader and more 

 deeply coloured than those of the body, are nearly longitudinal, about twelve in number; 

 those of the body are oblique, directed upward and backward. The latter are formed 

 bylines passing across the middle of each scale, and are consequently numerous, not less 

 than sixteen or seventeen being crossed by a line drawn from the junction of the spmous 

 and soft portions of the dorsal fin to the belly in front of the anus. On the tail, behind 

 the dorsal and anal fins, the markings become longitudinal, in about nine rows. The fins, 

 especially their scaly, soft portions, are more fuscous than the body; into these the mark- 

 ings do not extend.' The lateral line, deflected opposite to the extremity of the dorsal 

 fin, is yellow, and is accompanied below by a blue line; a similar line, but more distinct, 

 passes along its upper edge. The caudal fin is forked; the spines of the dorsal are fila- 

 mentous. The front and extreme teeth in each jaw, especially in the upper, are longer 

 and stronger than the others, and are somewhat hooked, a variance from the generic 

 mark ' dents en velours' indicated by M. Cuvier." 



