=The Groupers.=—In all warm seas abound species of _Epinephelus_ and related genera, known as sea-bass, groupers, or merous. They are mostly large voracious fishes with small scales, pale flesh of fair quality, and from their abundance they are of large commercial importance. To English-speaking people these fishes are usually known as grouper, a corruption of the Portuguese name garrupa. In the West Indies and about Panama there are very many species, and still others abound in the Mediterranean, in southern Japan, and throughout Polynesia and the West Indies. They have very much in common, but differ in size and color, some being bright red, some gaudily spotted with red or blue, but most of them are merely mottled green or brown. In many cases individuals living near shore are olivaceous, and those of the same species in the depths are bright crimson or scarlet. We name below a few of the most prominent species. Even a bare list of all of them would take many pages. _Cephalopholis cruentatus_, the red hind of the Florida Keys, is one of the smallest and brightest of all of them. _Cephalopholis fulvus_, the blue-spotted guativere of the Cubans, is called negro-fish, butter-fish, yellow-fish, or redfish, according to its color, which varies with the depth. It is red, yellow, or olive, with many round blue spots. _Epinephelus adscenscionis_, the rock-hind, is spotted everywhere with orange. _Epinephelus guaza_ is the merou, or giant-bass, of Europe, a large food-fish of value, rather dull in color. _Epinephelus striatus_ is the Nassau grouper, or _Cherna criolla_, common in the West Indies. _Epinephelus maculosus_ is the cabrilla of Cuba. _Epinephelus drummond-hayi_, the speckled hind, umber brown, spotted with lavender, is one of the handsomest of all the groupers. _Epinephelus morio_, the red grouper, is the commonest of all these fishes in the American markets. In Asia the species are equally numerous, _Epinephelus quernus_ of Hawaii and the red _Epinephelus fasciatus_ of Japan and southward being food-fishes of importance. _Epinephelus merra_, _Epinephelus gilberti_, and _Epinephelus tauvina_ are among the more common species of Polynesia. _Epinephelus corallicola_, a species profusely spotted, abounds in the crevices of coral reefs, while _Cepholopholis argus_ and _C. leopardus_ are showy fishes of the deeper channels. _Mycteroperca venenosa_, the yellow-finned grouper, is a large and handsome fish of the coast of Cuba, the flesh sometimes poisonous; when red in deep water it is known as the bonaci cardenal. _Mycteroperca bonaci_; the bonaci arará sells in our markets as black grouper. _Mycteroperca microlepis_ is commonest along our South Atlantic coast, not reaching the West Indies, and _Mycteroperca rubra_, which is never red, enters the Mediterranean. _Mycteroperca falcata_ is known in the markets as scamp, and _Mycteroperca venadorum_ is a giant species from the Venados Islands, near Mazatlan. _Diploprion bifasciatus_ is a handsome