382 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY. IV. 



ANALYSIS OF THE FAMILIES OF LOPHOBUANCnil. 



a. No spinons dorsal tin ; no ventral fins; gill-openings narrow. 



b. Axis of bead in a line with that of the body SYXGXATHID.E, 58. 



Ib. Axis of the head forming ail angle with that of the body..HirroCAMPiD.E, 59. 



FAMILY LVIIL SYNGNATHIDJE. 



The Pipe- fishes. 



Body elongate, very slender, covered with bony plates. Head slender, 

 its axis continuous with that of the body. Snout long, tube-like, bear- 

 in- the short toothless jaws at the end. Gill-openings reduced to a 

 small aperture behind the upper part of the opercle. Tail long, not 

 prehensile, usually provided with a small caudal fin. Male fishes with 

 an egg pouch, usually placed on the under side of the tail, sometimes 

 on the abdomen, and formed of two folds of skin which meet on the 

 median line. The eggs are received into this pouch and retained until 

 some time after hatching, when the pouch opens, permitting the young 

 to escape. Dorsal fin single, nearly median, of soft rays only; pectorals 

 present, small; ventrals none; anal fin minute, usually present. Genera 

 10 or more; species 120. Small fishes, found in all warm seas, some- 

 times entering fresh waters. 



(Syngnatlriflw, group SynyiHifhina Giiuther, viii, 153-193.) 



a Humeral bones united In-low; caudal fin present; pectoral fina well developed; 

 dorsal nearly opposite the vent SIPIIOSTOM A, 187. 



1S7.-SIPHOSTO3TIA* Rafincsqne. 



(Si/tiyiuilJntx of most recent authors.) 



* 

 (Rafinesqiic, Caratteri di alcuui Xuovi Generi, 18, 1*10: type Syngnathus pelagious "L.) 



Body elongate, very slender, six or seven angled, not compressed, 



tapering into a very long tail; the dorsal keels of the trunk not contin- 

 uous with those, of the tail. Head slender, tapering into a long tube- 

 like, sub terete snout, whieh bears the very short, toothless jaws at the 

 end. Humeral bones (irmly united with the "breast-riim." Body cov- 

 ered with a series of bony, keeled, radiated plates, arranged in linear 

 series. Dorsal (in distinel, rather short, opposite the vent, which is 

 near the middle of the body; caudal (in present, rather small; anal fin 



"Tin- genus Si/iiiitinlliiiH of l.iuiia-iis, originally equivalent to the modern order of 

 I.n]>li<>hi-iiiirliii, was first subdivided by lvaliue>que in I^IO. The name Xiphostoma was 

 given to N. jirliii/i<-H.i, and its relatives, the St/nijiHithits of late writers, that of Tiphle 

 i \. li/jilih', the Siphonotioma of late writers, while Si/nf/naHius was retained for S. 

 and its relatives, the group now usually called \irojiltis. 



