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PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XVIII, July 1964 
(1953) and Randall (1955). The confusion in 
deciding to which species the name fuscoguttatus 
should be applied is by no means confined to the 
authors just mentioned. 
Information was requested of Jprgen Nielsen 
of the Universitetets Zoologiske Museum in 
Copenhagen on the type of fuscoguttatus . He 
replied that the type of summana , a dried skin 
about 160 mm in standard length and still show- 
ing the characteristic white spots of the species, 
is extant, but no type material of variety fus- 
coguttatus is available. 
The two species so long confused under the 
one name fuscoguttatus have numerous small 
reddish-brown spots and a prominent black 
saddle-like marking on the caudal peduncle. The 
one character given by Forskal which suggests 
one of the two species and not the other is 18 
pectoral rays. The name fuscoguttatus is there- 
fore restricted to the species with 18 or 19 
pectoral rays, which is in agreement with the 
use of the names by Morgans, the most recent 
revisor (he did not, however, record pectoral 
ray counts). 
The oldest available name for the other spe- 
cies appears to be Sen anus microdon Bleeker 
( 1856) (type locality, Java) ; thus Epinephelus 
microdon replaces the name Epinephelus dispar 
(Playfair) used by Morgans. 
Data on the holotype of microdon were ob- 
tained from M. Boeseman of the Rijksmuseum 
van Natuurlijke Historic in Leiden, and later 
the specimen was examined by the author. This 
grouper (rmnh 5510) is now 400 mm in 
standard length and 490 mm in total length. 
Although in good condition, it was preserved 
with the body curved; therefore, according to. 
Boeseman, the original length was probably a 
few centimeters longer. The specimen was pur- 
chased at auction in 1879, and since Bleeker 
(1873-1876) indicated that he had only a 
single 510 mm example of the species, there is 
little doubt that the Leiden specimen is the true 
holotype. Because of the curvature of the body, 
the photograph supplied by Boeseman (Fig. 8) 
shows the head foreshortened. The two broad 
dark bars on the body are not pigmented regions 
but shadows from large wrinkles resulting from 
an attempt to straighten the body before the 
photograph was taken. A second illustration of 
microdon (Fig. 9) is provided from a photo- 
graph of a smaller specimen from the Phoenix 
Islands. 
E. fuscoguttatus and E. microdon may be 
distinguished as follows: fuscoguttatus , pectoral 
rays 18 or 19; gill rakers on lower limb of first 
arch 17-20 (including rudiments but not raker 
at angle); dorsal profile of head with an inden- 
Fig. 8. Holotype of Epinephelus microdon (Bleeker), 400 mm in standard length, Java (RMNH 5510). 
Photo supplied by M. Boeseman of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historic at Leiden. 
