SKETCHES OP BRITISH ICHTHYOLOOTf. 291 



The dorsal fin, of thirty-eight rays, is situated quite anteriorly to 

 the middle of the fish : a line directed vertically from the vent pass- 

 ing through the fin at three fourths of the distance from its anteri- 

 or extremity. The body, equal, in size, to a goose-quill, is of an 

 uniform olive-green colour. The pupils of the eye are black ; the 

 irides red. The animal varies, in length, from eight to fourteen 

 inches or more. It is figured by Bonnaterre, pi. 21, fig. 73 ; by 

 Pennant, vol. iii, pi. 26, No. 61 ; and Yarrell, vol. ii., p. 338. 



5. The Worm Pipe-fish, — S. lumbriciformis, — is the smallest of 

 the British species ; measuring, in length, from five to six inches; 

 The nose is very short, and turned a little upwards : the eyes pro- 

 minent. The form of the body is nearly cylindrical. The vent is 

 situated at the end of the first third of the whole length, with three 

 fourths of the dorsal fin, consisting of about thirty rays, in a verti- 

 cal line behind it. From the vent, the body gradually tapers to the 

 pointed tail. Anteriorly to the vent, there are nineteen — ; pos- 

 teriorly, about fifty plates. The surface of the body is smoother 

 than in the two preceding species : the colour dark olive-green. S , 

 lumbriciformis is found beneath stones, at Orkney, and on the Cor- 

 nish coast ; and is figured (a male specimen) by Pennant, vol. iii, 

 pi. 26, No. 62 ; and Yarrell, vol. ii, p. 340.* 



II. Hippocampus. Generic Characters. The mouth is placed 

 at the extremity of the united and tubular jaws. The body is 

 compressed, short, and deep: the whole body and tail divided by 

 longitudinal and transverse ridges, with tubercular points at the 

 angles of intersection. There are pectoral and dorsal fins in both 

 sexes ; but no ventral nor caudal fin in either. The male only has 

 an abdominal pouch ; the female only, an anal fin. The genu* 

 contains but one British species. 



1. The Short-nosed Hippocampus, — H. brevirostris, — rHippo- 

 campe. The whole length from the apex of the nose to the extre- 

 mity of the tail, is about five inches. The jaws are short : the eyes 

 prominent, and irides straw-yellow. A single spinous tubercle pro- 



• Two other species of Syngnaihus are recorded, as British, by Fleming, 

 History of British Animals^ v. i., p. 176. "The first, S. pelagicus, — le Tuyau 

 de Plume, is described, and figured, by Bonnaterre, Ichthyologie, pi. 21, fig. 

 72 ; and by Donovan, v. iii., pi. 58. Specific Characters : Body linear, hept- 

 angular. Taken, in winter-season, among sprats, on the English coast. The 

 second, — S. harbarm, — ie Sexangulaire : Bonnaterre, same page and plate, 

 fig 74. Specif. Char. : Body hexangular ; tail quadrangular. Both species 

 possess, according to Bonnaterre, a caudal fin : although Fleming expressly 

 states that, in the latter, this organ does not exist. They both closely re- 

 semble 5*. acus ; and apparently belong to the first sub-genus. 



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