PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 273 
~_ 
DESCRIPTION OF TWO NEW SPECIES OF SCOPELOID FISHES, 
SUDIS RINGENS AND MYCTOPHUS CRENULARE, FROM SANTA 
BARBARA CHANNEL, CALIFORNIA. 
By DAVID S. JORDAN and CHARLES H. GILBERT. 
Sudis ringens, sp. nov. 
The type of this species is in very poor condition, having been taken 
from the stomach of a Merlucius, itself found in the stomach of an Albi- 
core (Oreynus alalonga = Orcynus pacificus Cooper). The process of 
digestion has destroyed the adipose fin, the ventral fins, and the skin of 
one side, and the back part of the head is considerably mutilated. 
Fortunately, the anterior part of the head, with the jaws and teeth, is not 
at all injured, and the dorsal and anal fins are well preserved. There 
is, therefore, no doubt concerning the classification of the fish, and as it 
is the only one of its type yet found in the Pacific, and evidently differ- 
ent from 8S. hyalina, a description of it seems desirable, even though our 
material is not complete. 
Body very slender and elongate, compressed, the depth forming about 
one-sixteenth of the length. Head rather slender, anteriorly pointed 
and moderately depressed, so much injured behind the eyes that its ex- 
act form posteriorly cannot be ascertained. Mouth large, horizontal, 
the gape extending more than half the length of the head. Margin of 
the upper jaw formed entirely by the very slender, nearly straight pre- 
maxillaries, which are closely appressed to the long and slender maxil- 
laries. Maxillaries extending to below the eye, nearly as far as the man- 
dibular joint. Tip of upper jaw emarginate. Tip of lower jaw rather 
broad, turned up, and fitting in the notch of the upper jaw. Premaxilla- 
ries armed with a series of small, sharp, subequal, close-set teeth, which 
are hooked backward. A long slender canine in front on each side. 
Lower jaw with about ten sharp, slender teeth on each side, these 
teeth very unequal, some of them short, three or four very long and 
canine-like. Near the front is one fang-like tooth on each side, then a 
considerable interspace, behind which the others are arranged partly 
in two rows. Most of these teeth, especially the inner and larger ones, 
and the anterior canines, are freely depressible. A long series of teeth 
on the palatines, one or two of the anterior teeth on each side and one 
or two others long, slender, and fang-like. Tongue free anteriorly, 
roughish, but apparently without teeth. ‘ 
Opercular bones very thin and membranaceous. Branchiostegals 
about seven., Gill-membranes not connected. Gill-rakers short, sharp, 
spine-like. 
Seales nearly all lost. The few preserved are very large, cycloid, 
their diameter nearly a fourth of the depth of the body. 
Dorsal fin inserted somewhat behind the middle of the body, at a 
distance of nearly 4 times its base in front of the anal, its height a little 
greater than the length of its base. It is composed of 11 (1, 10) rays. 
Adipose dorsal not preserved. | 
Proc. Nat. Mus. 80-18 Sept. 28, L880. 
