ACANTHOPTERYGIANS. 91 



more or less uniform tint*. Very few of them possess characters drawn 

 from very apparent varieties of form. We will cite, however, the 



Serr. altivelis, Cuv. ; Cuv. et Val. II, xxxv. Which has a higher 



dorsal than the others; it is sprinkled with round and black spots, 



on a ground of light brown ; and 



Serr. phaeton, lb. pi. xxxiv, whose two middle caudal rays unite 

 in a filament as long as the body. 



We have separated from the Serrani, the 



Plectropoma, Cuv., 



Which only differ from them in the more or less numerous teeth of the 

 lower edge of the preoperculum, which incline obliquely forwards-)-, and 

 the 



DlACOPE, CuV., 



Whose character consists of an emargination near the lower edge of the 

 preoperculum, which receives a tuber of the interoperculum. The Indian 

 Ocean produces some large and splendid species J. 



Mesoprion, Cuv. 



These have, with the dental characters and fins of the Serrani and their 

 dentated preoperculum, an operculum terminating in an obtuse angle, not 

 spinous §. 



Numerous and beautiful species inhabit the two oceans []. Several of 

 them are very large, and excellent for eating. 



* Holocentrus ongus, Bl. 234; — Epinephelus marginalis, Bl. 328, or HoJoc. rosmare, 

 Lacep. IV, vii, 2; — Hoi. oceanique, Lacep. IV, vii. 3; — Epinephelus ruber, Bl. 331. 

 For various other species of which there are no figures, see descriptions in the second 

 volume of our History of Fishes. 



f PI. melanoleucum, Cuv.; or Bodian melanoleuque, Lacep ; or Labre lisse, Id. Ill, 

 xxiii, 2; or Bvdian cyclostome, lb. XX, 1; — IJoloc. leopard, Lacep. IV, p. 337; Cuv. 

 et Val. II, xxxvi; — Bodianus maculatus, Bl. 228, or Plectropome ponctue, Freycin. 

 Zool. XLV, 1; — Holocentrus unicolor, Bl., Schn., |Seb. Ill, lxxvi, 10; Plect. puella, 

 Cuv. et Val. II, xxxvii, and the other species described in the second Vol. of our His- 

 tory of Fishes. 



I Diac. Sebce, Cuv., Seb. Ill, xxvii, 2, and Russel, 99; — D. rivulata, Cuv.; Cuv. 

 et Val. II, xxxviii; — D. macolor, Cuv., Renard, I, ix, 60; — D. octulineata, Cuv., or 

 Holoc. bengalensis, Bl. 246, the same as the Labrus 8-lineatus, Lacep. Ill, xxii, 1, and 

 as the ScicEna kasmira, Forsk.; Hoi. b-lineatus, Bl. 239, is a variety of it; — D. notata, 

 Cuv., Russel, 98; D. quadriguttata, Cuv., or Spare lepisure, Lacep. Ill, xv, 2; — D. 

 calveti, Quoy et Gaym. Voy. Freycin. Zool. LVII, 1, and several other species de- 

 scribed in the second Vol. of our History of Fishes. 



§ Most of them were comprised in the genus Lutjanus of Bloch, but were there 

 mingled with species of other families, either Scieuoides or Labroides, of which we 

 have made other genera. 



|| Mesopr. unimaculatus, Russel, 97; — Anthias, Johnii, Bl. 318; — Coius catus, Bu- 

 chan, 38, f. 30; — M. b-lineatus, Russel, 110; — M. monostygma, Cuv., Lacep. Ill, xvii, 

 1; — M. untnotatus, Cuv., Cuv. et Val. II, xxix, Duham. part II, sect IV, pi. iii, f. 2, 

 and probably Sparus synagris, L., Catesb. II, xvii, 1 ; — M. buccanella, Cuv., the figure 

 of which was taken by Bloch from Plumier, and, with some alteration, given as the 

 Sparus erythrhius, pi. 274; — Bod. aia, Bl. 227, or Acara aia, Marcgr. 167; — Mes. chry- 

 sums, Cuv. et Val. II, xl, which is also the Sparus chrysurus, Bl. 262, or Acara pi~ 



