THE WORM PIPE-FISH. 179 



it is not very easy to describe in detail an agile 

 creature that is every moment gliding in and out 

 among the sea- weeds in its vase. (See Plate VIII. 

 rigs. 6 and 7.) The general hue of the body is a 

 warm yellow oKve, becoming silvery grey on the under 

 part of the lengthened . tail, from the vent backward. 

 The sides of the head and neck are profusely marbled 

 with conspicuous spots of pure white, of varying form 

 and size, the effect of which is heightened by each 

 being surrounded by a border of black ; on each side 

 of the cro^Ti also there passes off from behind the eye 

 to the occiput, an interrupted streak of white, bordered 

 below with black. A flush of red pui*ple suffuses the 

 middle of the operculum, covering without concealing 

 the spots and clouds of that part. Between the gills 

 and the vent there are numerous rows of white dots, 

 arranged perpendicularly on each side of the body at 

 regular intervals ; these doubtless mark the plates of 

 the mailed covering, a row to a plate, but whether 

 they are placed in the middle or at either edge of the 

 plate, I cannot say, for all my efforts will not avail to 

 make out the Limits of the plates in the living fish ; 

 the contour of the body is perfectly smooth and flow- 

 ing, not cylindrical, but compressed and forming an 

 edge on the back and on the belly. Scattered specks 

 of white lie between the perpendicular rows. Behind 

 the vent the body is perceptibly constricted between 

 the plates, and this alternate swelling and constriction 

 extends to within half an inch of the extremity of the 

 tail ; the remainder being abruptly attenuated and 

 smooth. Each of the plates on the tail is marked at 

 each edge of the under side, by a roundish well- 



