DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF PARALEPIS (PARAI EPIS CORUSCANS), FROM THE STRAITS OF JUAN DE FUCA.

By DAVID S. JORDAN and CHARLES H. GILBERT,

Paralepis coruscans, sp. nov.

Allied to P. borealis Reinh.

Head and body very elongate, compressed, almost ribbon-shaped, of uniform width throughout, and preserving its depth forwards to occiput and backwards to origin of dorsal fin. From the insertion of the dorsal the body is gradually narrowed to the very slender caudal peduncle, the base of anterior portion of anal projecting much beyond the ventral outline.

Abdomen compressed, subtrenchant.

Head long, wedge-shaped, its upper and lower outlines equally oblique. Snout very long and sharp, equaling half the length of the head, its tip on a line with the axis of the body. Eye large, its diameter onethird the length of the snout, placed high, with its upper margin on a level with the top of the head.

Head shaped somewhat as in Sphyræna. Jaws equal; gape very wide; maxillary reaching the vertical from the nostril; mandibular joint reaching the vertical from the anterior margin of the pupil.

Mandible closing inside the margins of the upper jaw, the latter being transversely much arched to receive it; tip of mandible fitting into an emargination between the intermaxillaries.

None of the teeth very large or fang-like. Intermaxillaries laterally with a single series of exceedingly minute teeth (as in Engraulis); anteri orly, however, on each side is a series of 4 or 5 rather long acicular teeth; the entire intermaxillary series is outside of the mandible in the closed mouth. Vomer with minute teeth. Palatine series long; the anterior teeth long and slender; the posterior short. Mandibular series working against the palatines; the teeth slender, distant, of different lengths. Branches of the lower jaw transversely deeply concave. Maxillary and intermaxillary slender, intimately connected, sliding under a fold of the skin.

All the bones of the head very thin, flexible, membrane-like. Preorbital long, very narrow, arched, extending forwards from orbit, reaching maxillary midway of its length. Suborbital chain likewise narrow.

Head with numerous sharp ridges; two forwards from the orbit; two pairs on the top of the head, converging forwards. Orbital ring slightly raised. Preopercular margin very oblique. Opercle with concentric striæ and radiating lines.

Gill-openings very wide, extending forwards to vertical from nostril; isthmus anteriorly much compressed, thin and membrane-like, the gills of the two sides lapping over and meeting across the ridge. Mandibular rami and subopercles and interopercles of the two sides meeting below across the isthmus.

Gill-rakers similar on all the arches, short, immovable, much broader than long, each provided with 4 or 5 short needle-like spines. A slit behind fourth gill. Pseudobranchia developed, partly hidden by a fold of the membrane. Branchiostegals 7, the membranes overlapping anteriorly, as in the Salmonida.

Scales small, deciduous; those of the lateral line large, non-imbricate, plate-like, becoming smaller posteriorly, the series terminating abrubtly opposite middle of the base of the anal.

Fins all very small. Pectorals placed low, their length two-fifths that of the snout. Ventrals far back, entirely behind the dorsal, their distance from base of caudal half that from front of orbit. Distance from middle of dorsal basis to base of caudal half its distance from the tip of the snout.

Anal elongate, high anteriorly, its base terminating at a point distant one-half diameter of orbit from base of caudal. Adipose dorsal high and narrow, directly over the end of the anal.

Caudal small, widely forked, the middle rays two-fifths the length of longest. End of caudal peduncle emarginate, the caudal rays radiating from the upper and lower angles. (In the type specimen the two lobes of caudal are entirely separate, without trace of connecting membrane.) Rudimentary rays long, extending along upper and lower sides of caudal peduncle for a distance greater than diameter of orbit. Tips of adipose dorsal and posterior anal rays reach rudimentary caudal rays.. Dorsal rays 8; anal rays 31; pectoral rays 11; ventral rays 9; lateral plates 60. Vent slightly behind base of ventral fins.

Color, in spirits, light olive-brown, becoming darker on the back, belly, and towards the tail. Above with a few small, distinct, black dots. Sides with some light brownish-yellow shading, a very narrow, lengthwise, silvery streak along the middle of the abdomen. Base of pectoral silvery, with a dark spot above. Bases of other fins jet-black, the color usually extending on the bases of the rays.

Sides of head silvery; opercles, top of head, and tip of snout dark; mandibular rami bright silvery, and provided each with a double series of minute "phosphorescent" spots.

This species is known to us from a single specimen obtained in the harbor of Port Townsend, Wash., by Mr. Brown, assistant in the customoffice at Port Townsend, and by him presented to the United States National Museum. The type is 9 inches in length, and is in good condition.

PORT TOWNSEND, WASH., September 30, 1880.

PRELIMINARY NOTICE OF THE CRUSTACEA DREDGED, IN 64 TO 325 FATHOMS, OFF THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW ENGLAND, BY THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION IN 1880.

By S. I. SMITH.

A general account of three short dredging trips of the United States steamer Fish Hawk to the region, off the eastern end of Long Island, known as the Block Island soundings, has already been given by Professor Verrill in these Proceedings, and also in the American Journal of Science for the present month (vol. xx, pp. 399-403), and need not be repeated here, further than that the region examined is in latitude 390 46' to 40° 06′ north, longitude 70° 22' to 71° 10' west, and that on the first trip, September 3 to 5, eight hauls (stations 865 to 872) were made, at depths ranging from 64 to 192 fathoms; on the second trip, September 12 to 14, nine hauls (stations 873 to 881) were made, in 85 to 325 fathoms;

and on the third trip, October 1 to 3, five hauls (stations 891 to 895) were made, in 238 to about 500 fathoms. At station 872, 86 fathoms, the bottom was covered with shells and sponges, but at all the other stations it was composed of fine sand and mud, varying in proportions and in compactness. The collections from the last trip have not yet been fully examined, and only a few of the species are recorded in the following pages. There was, however, a much smaller number of crustaceans obtained upon this last trip than upon the others.

The wonderful richness of the fauna of the sea-bottom in this region, in mollusks and echinoderms, has been shown in Professor Verrill's papers just referred to, and it is not less remarkable as regards the crustaceans. The richness, in both species and individuals, of this crustacean fauna would never have been suspected, and scarcely dreamed of, by one accustomed only to the meager fauna of the shallower waters of the south coast of New England. The larger part of the species secured from the great masses of material brought up in the trawl and dredge are Decapoda. There are comparatively few small species of Schizopoda, Cumacea, and Amphipoda, and further dredging will undoubtedly increase very greatly the number of species in these groups. The following enumeration is not complete even for the Decapoda, and much less so for the other groups, as several of the species are represented by specimens insufficient for proper determination, while others are omitted because not yet satisfactorily determined.

The exact location, depth, character of bottom, and temperature for each of the stations are given by Professor Verrill in the papers above referred to, and in the following pages I give only the serial numbers of the stations at which the species occurred, and the range in depth from the shallowest to the deepest of these stations. In occasionally referring to localities of dredgings carried on by the Fish Commission in previous years, I give the serial numbers of the stations according to the "Lists of the Dredging Stations of the United States Fish Commission from 1871 to 1879, inclusive, with Temperature and other Observations, arranged by Sanderson Smith and Richard Rathbun", in the Commissioner's Report for 1879.

BRACHYURA.

Hyas coarctatus Leach.

Several specimens from 86 fathoms, station 872, and 115 fathoms, station 871.

Collodes depressus A. Milne-Edwards, Crust. Région Mexicaine, p. 176, pl. 32, fig. 4, 187.

I refer to this species a considerable number of specimens from stations 865, 871, 872, 873, 874, 875, 878; 65 to 142 fathoms. Most of these specimens are much larger than those described by Milne-Edwards, and in all the larger, and in some of the smaller, specimens examined the three dorsal spines of the carapax and abdomen are almost wholly obsolete,

but in other respects they all agree well with the figures. In a few of the smallest specimens examined the spines are very nearly or quite as prominent as in the figures, while in other respects they are indistinguishable from specimens of the same size in which the spines are very small and inconspicuous. In all the spineless specimens there is a more or less prominent tubercle in place of the spines of the carapax. As in the next species, the spines are probably specially characteristic of the young, and become more or less obsolete as the individual increases in size, the obsolescence being more rapid in some individuals than in others. I think there is very little doubt that this species is synonymous with C. trispinosus Stimpson, also described from very small specimens. The following measurements show the size of the specimens examined. In the largest males the chelæ* are stout, but little more than twice as long as broad, and the basal portion considerably swollen.

Euprognatha rastellifera Stimpson, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Cambridge, ii, p. 123, 1870.-A. Milne-Edwards, Crust. Région Mexicaine, p. 183, pl. 33, fig. 2, 1878. Stations 865, 869, 871, 872, 873, 874, 877, 878; 65 to 192 fathoms; at nearly all these stations in vast numbers.

Many of the specimens are much larger than those described by Stimpson and Milne-Edwards, males often being 15m in length of carapax. In all the large specimens the spines of the carapax are much less conspicuous than in the young; the spines upon the orbital arches, upon the gastric, cardiac, and the summits of the branchial regions, and upon the basal segment of the abdomen, are often reduced to low and inconspicuous tubercles. In large males the chela are nearly as long as the carapax, more than a fourth as broad as long, and the basal portion considerably swollen. The whole animal is nearly naked and very free from foreign growths of all sorts, contrasting strongly in this respect with most of the Maioidea.

Lambrus Verrillii, sp. nov.

Allied to L. Pourtalesii Stimpson.

Female. The carapax, including lateral spines, is about one and a fourth times as broad as long, with a broad longitudinal depression

"I restrict, as Huxley has done, the term chela to the two terminal segments of a chelate appendage.