634 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxviii. 



Epinephelus ?norio, at the Bermuda Islands, by Dr. Edwin Linton, in 

 the summer of 1903. It is from these latter specimens that most of 

 the female characters in the present description are taken. These 

 females resemble those described by Bassett-Smith under the name 

 L. rotundiventris, a but the male is entirely different from the one 

 which he pictures. 



If he is right, therefore, in assigning the male and female which he 

 describes to the same species, we have here a markedly different form. 

 But, whether right or wrong, the present species shows enough 

 important differences to leave no doubt of its validity. In this species 

 the second maxilla is much longer than in Bassett-Smith's species and 

 the tip is not bifid in either sex. The furca is cut for three-fifths of 

 its length rather than for one-tenth, as in rotundiventris, and it is 

 widest at the tip instead of at the base. 



The detail of each pair of legs, especially the fourth, differs con- 

 siderably in minor characters. The abdomen in rotundiventris is 

 attached on a level with the dorsal surface, as is usual. It is widest in 

 the center and tapers much toward the tip, where are attached the 

 small laminae. 



In the present species the abdomen is attached on a level with the 

 ventral surface and so far forward that the overhanging dorsal surface 

 nearly conceals it in a dorsal view. It is widest at the base, and then 

 abruptly contracted where it joins the genital segment, and to its tip 

 are attached a pair of laminae nearly as large as the abdomen itself. 

 In the present species, also, the male's genital segment is radically 

 different from that of the female, and is like that in other species. It 

 is flattened dorso-ventrally, has an acorn-shape, and is furnished with 

 two pairs of papillae, one on the lateral margins and one at the poste- 

 rior corners. It does not project dorsally over the abdomen, but the 

 latter is attached to it, as in other species, on a level with the dorsal 

 surface. 



The general relation of the different regions in the male would thus 

 correspond closely with that of both sexes in Bassett-Smith's species, 

 but the details of structure are very different. 



Another thing which renders the present species interesting is the 

 thickness and paucity of the eggs. In no other species, except hifur- 

 catus, is there any approach to the condition found here. That this is 

 no accidental occurrence, nor the result of immaturity, is shown by 

 the fact that the egg strings of all the females are almost exactly 

 alike. Furthermore, a careful examination of the egg cases" at the 

 point of their attachment to the genital segment shows that all the 

 eggs have been extruded, and the cases have been pinched off and 

 closed, as is normally done at the conclusion of egg extrusion. 



«He has used the term "ventris" here to express a portion of the thorax; it is 

 the genital segment which is rotund and not the abdomen. 



