GRAMMISTES.--Body rather short, compressed, covered with minute scales imbedded in the thick skin. All the teeth are villiform; teeth on the vomer and palatine bones. Two dorsal fins, the first with seven spines. Præoperculum without serrature, but with three short spines. A short skinny barbel is frequently developed at the chin. Three species are known from the Indo-Pacific; they are of small size. One, _G. orientalis_, is black, with six or seven white longitudinal stripes, and one of the most common coast-fishes of that ocean. RHYPTICUS.--Body oblong, compressed, covered with minute scales imbedded in the thick skin. All the teeth are villiform; teeth on the vomer and palatine bones. The spines of the vertical fins are but little developed, always in small number and short, and may disappear entirely. Præoperculum not serrated, with some obtuse spines. Four species are known: three from the West Indies and one from the Galapagoes Islands. Other genera allied to the two preceding are _Aulacocephalus_ from Mauritius, Reunion, and Japan; and _Myriodon_ from the coasts of Australia. DIPLOPRION.--Body rather elevated, compressed, with small scales. All the teeth villiform; teeth on the vomer and palatine bones. Two dorsal fins, the first with eight spines; anal with two. Præoperculum with a double denticulated limb. [Illustration: Fig. 153.--Mesoprion monostigma.] The single species known (_D. bifasciatum_), is very common in the East Indian Archipelago, and on the coasts of Southern China and Japan. It is of small size, and ornamented with two broad black cross-bands. MESOPRION.--Body oblong, compressed, covered with scales of moderate size. Teeth villiform, with canines in both jaws; teeth on the vomer and palatine bones. One dorsal fin, with ten or eleven, rarely with more spines; anal fin with three. Præoperculum serrated; in some species (_Genyoroge_) a more or less distinct spinous knob projects from the surface of the interoperculum, and is received in a more or less deep notch of the præopercular margin. [Illustration: Fig. 154.--Opercles _a_, of _Mesoprion_; _b_, of _Genyoroge_; _o_, knob received in a notch of the præoperculum.] About seventy species are known from tropical seas in both hemispheres, but it is noteworthy that the species with the peculiar protuberance of the interoperculum are confined to the Indo-Pacific. The coloration is much more simple than in the small-scaled Serrani, a uniform hue of greenish, pink, or red prevailing; species with longitudinal bands are scarce, but not rarely dark cross-bands or a large spot on the side occur. The majority of the species remain within very moderate dimensions, specimens exceeding three feet in length being scarce. They are generally eaten, and some of the species belong to the commonest fishes of the tropics, as _M. bengalensis_, _chrysurus_, _gembra_, _griseus_, and others.