57 



With some doubt I refer to this species the Eed Rock-fish of the Ber- 

 muda market. In habits, form, and dimension, it much resembles the 

 preceding. It is recorded from Saint Bartholomews, Cuba, and San Do- 

 mingo, and at the latter place is called by the same name as in Ber- 

 muda. 



EPLNEPHELHS STRIATUS, {Block) Gill. 



Hamlet; Grouper. 



Cherna, Parra, Desc. Dif. Piez. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 1787, 50, lam. xxiv. 



Anthias striatus, Bloch, Ichth. is, 1797, 109, tab. 324 (on a figure by Plumier). 



Lutjanus striatus, Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss. iv, 1803, 324. 



Serranus striatus, Cuv & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss. ii, 1829, 288. — Storer, Syn. Fisb. N. 



Am. 1846, 27. — Guichenot, Sagra's Hist. Nat. Cuba, Poiss. 1850, 12.— Gtjntfier, 



Cat. Fisb. Brit. Mus. i, 1861, 110. 

 Epinephelus striatus, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 1865, 105. — Poey, Rep. Fis. 



Nat. Cuba, ii, 1868, 285.— Cope, Trans. Am. Pbil. Soc. 1870, 466. 

 Anthias cherna, Schneider, Bloch, Syst. Tcbtb. ed. 1801, 310 (on Parra's figure). 

 Sparus chrysomelanurus, Lacepede, op. cit. 160. (on a bad copy of Plumier's figure). 



Very common; found also throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf 

 of Mexico. The Grouper attains an enormous size ; and, on account of 

 its abundance and the ease of capturing, it is used as food more than any 

 other species. Its flesh is rather inferior in flavor and coarse in texture, 

 especially that of large individuals. Great numbers are caught off the 

 islands, and are brought in the wells of the smacks to the artificial ponds 

 along the shore, where they are kept for the market, and are fed on fish 

 and lobsters. 



The " Devil's Hole" is a large natural pool near the center of the main 

 island, and about one hundred feet from the south shore of Harrington 

 Sound. Here a large number of Groupers may usually be found con- 

 fined, and the place is much visited by strangers. At feeding-time, when 

 one looks into the clear waters of the pool, nothing can be seen but an 

 array of great open mouths. When the food is thrown in, a scene of 

 indescribable commotion and splashing ensues. They are very fierce, 

 and rush savagely at anything which looks eatable. I have seen two 

 large ones, each four feet in length, seize the opposite ends of a cuttle- 

 fish arm tugging for several minutes at the tough morsel before the 

 question of ownership could be decided. 



The young fish are called Hamlets; but, after reaching a length of 

 eighteen or twenty inches, are known as Groupers; the latter name is 

 a corruption of the Portuguese Garoupa, which is applied to a similar 

 fish found at Madeira. 



