350 
BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
19. ALPHESTES AFER. 
(Guaseta.) 
Epinephehis afer Bloch, Ichthyologia, tab. 327, 1793 (Guinea?). 
Alphestes afer Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 1801, 236 (copied) ; Peters, Berliner Monatsber., 1865, 
105 (description of Bloch’s type) ; Jordan & Swain, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 396 (Cuba). 
Pleciropoma chloropterim Cuv. & 7al., Hist. Nat. Poiss., II, 398, 1828 (San Domingo ; Martinique) ; 
Poey, Memorias Cuba, i, 73, tab. 9, f. 3, 1851 (Havana); Vaillant & Bocourt, Miss. Sci. an 
Mexique, 107, pi. v, f. 3, 1875; Poey, Repertorio, i, 265, 1867. 
Prospinus chloropterus Poey, Syn. Pise. Cubens., 1868, 289 (Havana) ; Poey, Enumeratio, 1875, 18. 
Plectropoma monacanthus Muller & Troschel, Schomburgk’s Hist. Barbadoes, 665, 1848 (Barbadoes), 
Giinther, Cat. Fish Brit. Mus., I, 164, 1859 (copied) ; Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., 1871, 467, 
(St. Martins). 
Habitat. — West ludian fauna; Cuba to Brazil. 
Etymology.— Afer., African. 
This small fish is generally common in the West Indies. Our specimens are 
from Cuba and Bahia. 
20. ALPHESTES PICTUS. 
Plectropoma pictum Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, 5, 1844 ; Giinther, Cat. Fish Brit. Mus., I, 164, 1859 
(copied) ; Kner, Neue Fische aus. Museum Godeffroy, 1867, 2. (Iquique.) 
Alphestes pictus Jordan & Swain, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 395 (copied). 
Habitat. — Coast of Peru ; not seen by us. 
Etymology. — Pictus, painted. 
This species may perhaps prove to be the type of a distinct genus. Our account 
is taken chiefly from the description of Dr. Kner. 
Genus IX.— EPIKBPHELUS. 
Epinephelus Bloch, Ichthyologia, 1793 (in part; not species which suggested the name). 
Cerna Bonaparte, Introduzione alia classe Pesci, Fauna Italica, tome III, pt. 1, 1833 (gigas). 
Cynichthys Swainson, Nat. Hist. Classn. Fishes, II, 1839, 201 {flavo-purpuratus). 
Cromileptes Swainson, Nat. Hist. Classn. Fishes, II, 1839, 201 (gigas, etc). 
Epinephelus Bleeker, Gill, 1861, and of most American writers. 
Hyporthodus Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, 237 (flavicaiida = niveatns). 
Schistorus Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, 237 (mgstacinus). 
Labroperca Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, 80 (lahriformis). 
IVIerus Poey, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y., about 1869 (gigas, etc). 
Priacanthichthys Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868 (young). 
Cerna Doderlein, Rivista delle Specie del genere Epinephelus o Cerna, 1873 (gigas). 
Hyposerranus Klunzinger, Fische des Rothen Meeres, 1884, 3 (morrhua). 
Garrupa Jordan, subg. nov. (nigritus). 
Serranus sp., auct. (nec tgpus). 
Type. — Epinephelus marginalis Bloch. 
Etymology. — clouded over, in allusion to the membrane supposed to 
cover the eye in E. ruber {Mycteroperca). 
This is the largest and most important genus of the Serranidee, and its species 
are most widely distributed. 
Most of the American species of this genus have been already described in detail by 
Jordan & Swaiu (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 379 et seq. To this account the reader 
is referred for description and synonymy. We have, however, in this paper omitted 
