A Fist WorRTU TAKING. 457 
tween those weights. Ishould suppose it belongs to the ge- 
nus Tunny, were it not for its short, square-ended fins, its 
large scales and chubbed form, being both wide and thick, 
with a huge head and large mouth, armed with numerous 
short and sharp teeth, in several rows on each mandible; 
it is, therefore, unlike any other fish of our bays, being much 
more powerful than the drum, and several fold larger than 
the sheepshead or sea bass, these being the fishes which it 
most nearly resembles in outline. The top of its head is 
black, and the ends of all the fins but the pectoral are edged 
with an inch-wide band of jet black; the rest of the fins being 
neutral-tinted, the back, a dark brownish gray, fading regu- 
larly toward a white abdomen. This is eminently a South 
American fish, which forages north as far as extend the Ba- 
hama Banks. It feeds on such crustacea as crabs, mussels, 
soft-shell clams, shriinp, and does not refuse eels, butter-fish, 
mullets,and porgees. Besides its large jaws and numerous 
teeth, its first dorsal is strongly spiked, as is also the top ray 
of its pectoral fin; and it is further armed with a short and 
strong spear on the outer gill-cover each side of the head, as 
represented by the white triangular figure on the gill; and 
the grouper has the power to turn its point at right-angle 
with the body, or to lay it down flat in its sheath on its huge 
and powerful gill-cover. The grouper is an excellent dinner 
fish, and when boiled and served with drawn butter and 
shrimp or lobster sauce, is said to fully equal the turbot. 
It is taken in nets and on the troll. It plays very vigor- 
ously, alternately leaping and plunging, contending for some 
half an hour on the strongest-armed metal squids, and which 
he often crushes and escapes, though the hand-line to the 
troll be manned by an experienced and expert fisherman. 
It frequently gives trollers in the Gulf of Mexico and in 
the baysaround Florida a test of its qualities for game. The 
following sketch is intended to represent a student belonging 
to the Hand-line Committee, who concluded not to be trou- 
bled with holding his line, so fastened it to his leg; and when 
