474 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
42. HAMULON SCIURUS. (Yellow Grunt; Ronco Amarillo.) 
Anthias formosus Bloch, Ichthyol., taf. 323, 1790 (Antilles); Bloch & Schneider, Syst. 
Ichthyol., 1801, 305. (Not Perca formosa L., with which if is identified ; 
the latter is Diplectrum formosum.) 
Sparus sciurus Shaw, General Zobdlogy, tv, 1803, pl. 64 (based on the description and 
figure of Bloch). 
Hemulon sciurus, Jordan, Proc. U.S. N. M. 1884, 126 (Key West); Jordan & Swain, 
MiGs ro Ue. 
Hemulon clegans Cuvier, Régne Animal, 1829 (no description; on the figure of 
Bloch); Cuy. & Val., v, 227, 18380; Giinther, I, 1859, 306 (Jamaica); Putnam, 
Bull. M. C. Z., 1863, 12 (name only); Poey, Repertorio, 1, 309, 1867; Cope, 
Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1871, 471 (St. Croix). 
Diabasis elegans, Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 923 (specimen from Aspinwall) ; 
Bean, Cat. Fish. Exh. London, 1883, 58 (Key West). 
Diabasis obliquatus Bennett, Zodlogical Journal, London, v, 1835, 90 (Jamaica). 
Hemulon luteum Poey, Memorias, 1, 174, 354, 1860 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 317; Poey, 
Enumeratio, 44; Poey, Anales Hist. Nat., Madrid, 1881, 201 (Puerto Rico). 
Hemulon multilineatum Poey, Memorias, 11, 178, 1860 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 318; 
Poey, Enumeratio, 44. 
Hemulon hians Haly, Ann. Nat. Hist., 1875, xv, 268 (Bahia). 
Habitat: West Indies; Florida Keys to Brazil. 
Ltymology: Seiurus, squirrel, from the grunting noise. The species 
was confounded by Shaw with the squirrel-fish, Holocentrus ascenscionis. 
This species is common both at Key West and Havana, and is known 
as the “yellow grunt” or “ronco amarillo.” It is sometimes called 
the “ boar grunt” by fishermen, who imagine it to be the male of H. 
plumiert. It was first noticed by Bloch, who called it Anthias formosus, 
identifying it incorrectly with Perca formosa ot Linneus. Shaw, who 
still supposed it to be Perca formosa of Linnzeus, changed this name 
arbitrarily to Sparus sciurus, <A fair description and figure are given, 
taken, we believe, from Bloch. In our opinion the name sciwrus should 
be retained for the species, although so far as Shaw was concerned its 
introduction was a piece of meddling impertinence. Shaw’s synonymy 
includes the Linnean fish, and the name sciurus is taken from the com- 
mon name (squirrel-fish) of the latter. The species which he had in 
mind, is, however, the present one, and it had before him received no 
tenable specific name. This confusion was first detected by Cuvier, 
who, however, failed to discriminate between the Linnean type (Serranus 
formosus) and the figure of Catesby (representing Haemulon plumiert), 
referred by Linneus to the same species. Cuvier called the species 
elegans. Later Poey, on the basis of inaccuracies in coloration in a 
plate representing H. elegans, has considered the Cuban fish as distinct 
under the name of lutewm, while a pale variety discussed above has 
been called multilineatum. There is no doubt that both of these names 
should be regarded as synonyms of elegans. The Diabasis obliquatus 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 
represented as more oblique and more numerous than we have ever 
seen them. Specimens are in the museum at Cambridge from Havana, 
Porto Seguro, St. Thomas, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. 
