1910. J AND INVERTEBRATES OF ST. HELENA. 97 



Natural History Museum that this is not the case ; the scales 

 are not pierced, but when the scale is removed and the thin 

 membrane beneath it also, a cavity is visible in the centre of the 

 scale-area. 



I have named the new species in honour of Mr. Alfred 

 Mosely. 



HOLOCENTRUM LONGIPINNE. 



ffolocentrum longipinne Cuv. &, Yal. iii. p. 185; vii. p. 496; 

 Gunther, B. M. Cat. Fishes, i. p. 28 ; Melliss. 



The Soldier, Melliss. 



Certain sexual differences exist in this species which are not 

 mentioned in Giinther's Catalogue. In the male the pelvic fins 

 reach only two-thirds of the distance from their base to the anus, 

 in the female they extend to the anus ; in the male their length 

 is contained more than 3f in the total length exclusive of the 

 caudal fin, in the female it is contained only 3 times in the total 

 length. The body is shorter and stouter in the female than in 

 the male ; in the former the height of the body is contained 

 twice in the total length without caudal, in the male 3 times. 



This species is regularly seen in the market, where I obtained 

 my first specimens. It is taken in shallow water along the coast 

 in company with Scorpcena scrojina ; in my experiment with the 

 trammel off Banks' Valley I caught eleven specimens, but in the 

 trawl I caught none, from which it would appear that it occurs 

 only in the shallowest water close to the shore. 



It occurs also at Ascension, the Bermudas, the West Indies, 

 and the coast of Brazil. 



Epinephelus ascensionis. 



Trachinus ascensionis Osbeck. Voy. China, ii. p. 96 ; Cuv. & 

 Val. vi. p. 517. 



Serranus impetiginosus Midi. & Trosch. in Schomburgk's Hist. 

 Barb. p. 665 ; Melliss, p. 103. 



Epinephelas ascensionis Jorcl. & Swain., Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 

 vii. 1884, p. 391 ; Boulenger, B. M. Cat. Fishes, 2nd ed. i. p. 228. 



St. Helena Jack, Melliss. 



This species is marked with reddish-brown spots regularly 

 distributed all over the body. It is common and considered a 

 very good table-fish ; it occurs close to the shore as well as in 

 moderate depths, a,nd is caught either by fishing from the rocks 

 or from a boat. The first specimen I saw was obtained from 

 a man who had been fishing from the landing-steps in the early 

 morning ; it was 9 inches long, and was a female not ripe. Others 

 were caught on the windward side of the island, off George 

 Island and in Prosperous Bay. It appears to be confined to the 

 tropical and subtropical Atlantic, having been taken at Ascension, 

 Barbados, Trinidad, and Bahia ; also at the Cape. 



Proc. Zool. Soc. 1910.— No. VII. 7 



