On the M etamorphosis of Syngnathus lumbriciformis. 451 



A. hirta, perennis v. sufFruticosa, erecta, foliis obovato-oblongis basi longe 

 angustatis cauleque hirsutissimis, bracteis oblongis acuminatis villosis, caly- 

 cibus amplis coloratis corollisque longe pilosis. — Tota pilis flavicantibus ob- 

 tecta. Calyces coccinei. Corollae tubus ultrapollicaris, limbi laciniis acuti- 

 usculis. 



L. — Metamorphosis observed in the Small Pipe-fish (Syngna- 

 thus lumbriciformis) . By Prof. B. Fries*. With Plate 

 XII. 

 When I had the honour some time since of presenting to the 

 Royal Academy of Sciences an addition to our knowledge of 

 the Scandinavian species of the genus Syngnathus, I did not 

 expect that I should so soon again have further occasion to 

 return to the same genus, and to show in another point of 

 view that it merits the attention of Ichthyologists. Such an 

 opportunity has however been afforded by the unexpected dis- 

 covery of a kind of metamorphosis which I have observed in 

 the smallest of our pipe-fish, S. lumbriciformis. In all probabi- 

 lity this is not the only species of the genus which undergoes 

 this metamorphosis, but the same may probably occur in all 

 those belonging to the division of Syngnathi Ophidii-f. As pre- 

 viously I had had no opportunity of convincing myself of this 

 fact, it may be well to publish the preliminary notice of what 

 I have observed, in order to direct the attention of other na- 

 turalists to the subject. 



After having satisfied myself by some successful trials of 

 the possibility of keeping species of pipe-fish alive for a short 

 time in reservoirs filled with water — which will not in ge- 

 neral succeed with our sea fish — it was my intention to in- 

 quire into the relation subsisting between the young of the 

 pipe-fish in their tender age and their parents ; that is to say, 

 I wished to learn whether the pipe-fish, also, afford their young 

 the protection and care which, as experience has shown, the 

 marsupial pipe-fish extend to their progeny ; and, if it were so, 

 in what manner nature had effected this, as the former are not 

 furnished with the marsupial sac which in the latter affords 



* Translated from the Swedish into German by Dr. Gans of Stockholm, 

 and inserted in Wiegmann's Archiv, Part III. 1838, whence this is taken. 



f For the terms ophidial pipe-fish and marsupial pipe-fish, see Prof. Fries's 

 paper on the genus Syngnathus, a translation of which appeared at page 06 

 of this Journal. — Edit. 



2 h 2 



