PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 411 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF PARALEPIS (PARAL 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 out- 
line. 
Abdomen compressed, subtrenchant. 
Head long, wedge-shaped, its upper and lower outlines equally ob- 
lique. 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 one- 
third 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 Sphyrana. 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 asingle series of exceedingly minute teeth (as in Lngraulis); 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. Pre- 
orbital long, very narrow, arched, extending forwards from orbit, reach- 
ing 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 
strive 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. Mandibu- 
lar rami and subopercles and interopercles of the two sides meeting 
below across the isthmus. 
