SPAROID FISHES OF AMERICA AND EUROPE. 463 
knowledge of his conclusions being limited to a nominal list published 
by Prof. F. W. Putnam (Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zool., 1863, 12). 
In this list four generic names are recognized, two of them new, but 
not defined, and hence not requiring notice. The species are thus 
grouped: 
Hemylum, formosum (plumieri), elegans, arara (plumieri). 
Diabasis, albus. 
Anarmostus, flavolineatus, serratus (parra). 
Bathystoma, melanurum (aurolineatum), chrysopterum (rimator). 
Later, another genus, Brachygenys, likewise left undefined, was pro- 
posed by Mr. Scudder for teniatum Poey. It is mentioned by Poey 
(Syn. Pisce. Cubens., 1868, p. 319). We are unable to see any distince- 
tion whatever for the groups called Hamulon, Diabasis, and Anar- 
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 are 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 Hamulon, given to it by 
Cuvier in 1829. This name is not strictly correct in its form, and it has 
been sometimes, with a greater approach to classical exactness, written 
Hemulum, which is an abridgment of the full form, Haematulum. By 
a curious blunder several purists have written Hamylum, which is 
much worse than Haemulon. The name is expressly stated by Cuvier 
to be derived from aiya, blood, and odjov, the singular of oda, the gums. 
The name Diabasis of Desmarest (1823) has priority over Hamulon, 
and has been substituted for the latter by Bennett, Bleeker, and 
others. Thisname is, however, preoccupied in Coleoptera by the genus 
Diabasis, Hoffmannsegg, 1819. There appears, therefore, no doubt of 
the propriety of the retention of the name Hamulon. Hamulon sciurus 
(Shaw) (elegans Cuvier), the first species mentioned by Cuvier, may be 
regarded as the type of the genus. Twenty species of Hemulon are 
recognized by us as probably valid. These we arrange in five sec- 
tions or subgenera, with the names Hamulon, Bathystoma, Brachy- 
genys, Lythrulon, and Orthostechus. Of these, Hamulon 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 Hemulon the young have the snout proportionally 
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 Hamulon, 
