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Show 104 Pe1'ca gigas, Gm. Three feet and more in length; of a clouded brown: it is also taken in the Ocean. The Met·rre, foreign to Europe, are extremely numerous; the dentation of the preoperculum, in several, becomes almost insensible;( I) but, generally, they can o11ly be distinguished b~ their colours. There are many in which the body is dotted wtth colours more or Jess vivid,(2) and others, in which itis marked with crowded spots.(3) Some in which it is longitudinally striped,( 4) or transversely,(s) or mat·bled in large patches,(6) or divided into two colours,(7) or, finally, of a more or less unifot·m tint.(8) Very few of them possess characters drawn from very apparent varieties of form. We will cite, however, the (1) These, when the muzzle is naked, constitute the BonJANus, Bloch; they only differ from most of the HoLOCENTILI of the same author, in this diminished dentation. The HoLocENTlll, when the muzzle is scaly, are called EriNEPHELI, and where this is the case with the Bonu.Nr, they are called C.EriiALOPHOLEs. The LUTaNI and ANTUI.lE of Bloch differ from the lfoLOCEN'.rm, in the absence of the spines on their operculum; in the first ones, the muzzle is naked; it is scaly in the others; but all these characters, of but little importance in themselves, are very badly applied to the species. (2) They are the Jacob Evertsen of the Dutch, such as: Bodianusgutlatus, BI., 224;-Cepltalopltolis argus, Bl., Schn., pl. 61;-Bodianus brenalc, Dl. 226;-Holoc. auratus, lb. 236;-llol. ca:ruleo-punctatus, Id. 242, 2;-Labrus punctulatus, La· cep., III, xvii, 2, &c.; and in America, Perea guttata, Bl. 312, or Spare sanguino· lent, Lacep. IV, iv, 1 ;-P. maculata, Bl. 313, or Spare atlantique, Lac., IV, v, 1;Johnius guttatus, Bl. Schn., or Bonaci-arara, Parra, XVI, 2;-Lutjanus lunulatus, Bl. Schn., or Cabrilla, Parra, XXXVI, 1;-Bodianus guativere, Parra, V;-1/oloc. punctat·us, Bl. 241, or Pyra pixanga, Marcg. 152;-(Jymnocephalus ruber, Bl. Schn., 67, or Carauna, Marcg., 147;-Bodian'US apua, Bl. 229. (3) Epinephelus merra, lll. 329;-lloloc. pantherin, Lacep., III, xxvii, 3;-Ser. ranus bontoo, Cuv., Uussel, 128;-Serr. suillus, Russ., 127;-Labrus leopardus, Lacep., Ill, xxx, 1;-lloloc. salmonoi'd~, lb., XXXIV, 3;-Bodianus melanuros, Geoffr., Egypt., XXI, 1. (4) Sciamaformosa, Shaw, Hussel, 129. (5) lloloc. tigrinus, Bl., 237; Seb. III, xxvii;-llol. lanceolatus, HI., 242, l;. llntMasorientalis, Id., 326;-.ll.ntlt. striatas, Id. 324·, which is also the .llntlt. clterna, Bl., Schn., Parra, XXIV; and the Spa1·e cltrysomelane, Lacep. (6) Serranus geographicus, Kuhl, Cuv. et Val., II, p. 322. (~? Serr~nus Jl.avo-cmruleus, Cuv., which is the lloloc. gymnose, I.acep., Ill, xxvu, 2; .h•s Bodzan grosse tite, III, xx, 2, and his llolocentre jaune et bleu, IV, p. 369. It IS also the Serran bourignon, Quoy et Gaym. Vov. Freycin. Zool. pl. hii,2. ' • ' ' (8) llolocentrus angus, lll., 234;-Epinephelus mm-ginalis, Bl. 328, or Holoc. rosmare, Lacep., IV, vi!, 2;-Hol. oceanique, Lacep., IV, vii, 3;-Epinephelus ru~er,. Bl.,_J31. For varwus other species, of which there are no figures, see de· scr1pbons m the second volume of our History of ·Fishes. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 105 Ser. altivelis, Cuv.; Cuv. et Val., II, xxxv. Which hft.s a higher dorsal than the others; it is sprinkled with round and black spots, on a ground of light brown; and Serr. phae-ton, lb. pl. xxxiv, whose two middle caudal rays unite in a filament as long as the body. We have separated from the Serrani, the PLECTROPOMA, Cuv. Only differing from them in the more or less numerc;ms teeth of the lower edge of the preoperculum, which incline obliquely forwards,( 1) and the DrAcoPE, Cuv. Characterized by an emargination near the lower edge of the preoperculurn, which receives a tuber of the interoperculum. The Indian Ocean produces some large and splendid species.(2) MESOPRION, Cuv. The dental characters and fins of the Serrani with their dentated preoperculum; the operculum terminating in an obtuse angle, not spinous.( 3) Numerous and beautiful species inhabit the two oceans.( 4·) Several of them are very large, and their flesh is excellent. (1) Pl. melanoleueum, Cuv.; or Bodian melanoleuque, Lacep.; or Labre lisse, Id., m, niu, 2; or Bodian cyclostome, lb., XX, 1;-Holoc. leopard, Lacep., IV, p. 337; ' Cuv. et Val. II, ux.vi;-Bodianus maeulat'U8, lll., 228, or Plectrcpome ponctue, Freycin., Zool., XLV, 1;-Holocentrus unicolor, Bl., Schn., Seb., III, lxxvi, 10;Plect. puella, Cuv. et Val. II, xxxvii, and the other species described in the second Vol. of our History of Fishes. (2) Diac. Sebre, Cuv., Seb., Ill, xxvii, 2, and Russel, 99;-D. rivulata, Cuv. et Val., II, xxxviii;-D. macolor,. Cuv., Henard, I, ix, 60;-D. octolineata, Cuv., or Holoc. bengalensis, Bl., 246, the same as the Labrus 8-lineatus, Lacep. ur, xxii, 1, and as the Sciama kasmira, Forsk;. Ilol. 5. lineatus, Bl., 289, is a variety of it;D. notata, Cuv. Russel, 98; D. quadriguttata, Cuv., or Spare leipsure, Lacep. Ill, xv, 2;-D. calveti, Quoy et Gaym. Voy. Freycin. Zool., LVII, 1, and several other species described in the second vol. of our History of Fishes. (3) Most of them were comprised in the genus Lutjanus of Bloch, but were there mingled with. species of other families, either Scienoides or Labroides, of which we have made other genera. (4) Mesopr. unimaeulatus, Uussel, 97;-.ll.ntltias Jolmii, Bl., 318;-Coi~ts catus, Buchan., 38, f. 30;-M. S·lineatus, Russel, 110;-.M. monostygma, Cuv., Lacep., III, xvii, 1;-M. uninotatus, Nob., Cuv. et Val., II, xxxix, Duham. part II, sect. IV, pl. iii, f. 2, and probably Sparus synagris, L., Catesb. II, xvii, 1;-.111. bucca- VoL. II.-0 \ |