682 LOPHOBRANCHIT. 



spines or hnohs. Dorsal and pectoral fins present : the tail prehensile, finless, and lotigcr than the trunk. Males 

 furnished with an egrj.sac situated helow the tail and opening near the vent. 



Geographical distrihdion.. — These marine fishes are found generally distributed throughout tropical and 

 temperate seas. Owing to their attaching themselves (by means of their prehensile tails) to floating substances 

 and pieces of seaweed, or sticks which break from their moorings, these fishes are carried away for lonsr 

 distances by currents, causing the limits of their distribution to be very extensive. 



These horse-fishes are difficult to distinguish one from another, owing- to slight variations in the number 

 of osseous rings, individual deviations in some of the proportions of the body as tlie length of the snout, and in 

 the existence and development of the tubercles and the shape of the plates. The number of rays in the dorsal 

 fin appears to be moderately constant.* 



SYNOPSIS OP SPECIES. 



1. nippocampus trimaculatus, D. 19-20. Osseous rings 11 + 30. Coi'onet of moderate height or low. 

 Burma to Pinang and China. 



2. Hippocampus guUulatus, D. 10-17. Osseous rings 11 -f 33. Coronet rather low. Red Sea, Indian 

 Ocean to Japan and tropical parts of the Atlantic. 



3. Hippocampus hystrix,!). 17-18. Osseous rings 11 -)- 30-37. Tubercles in the form of sharp spines. 

 East coast of Africa, seas of India to Japan. 



I. Hippocampus trimaculatus, Plate CLXXIV, fig. 7. 



Leach, Zool. Misc. p. 104 ; Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 20-1. 



Hippocampus mannulus, Cantor, Catal. Malay. Fish. p. 388, jjI. xi, f. 1 ; Kaup, Lophob. p. 11 ; Blyth, 

 Journ. A. S. of Beng. 1860, p. 173. 



D. 19-20, P. 17, A. 4. Osseous rings 11 + 36. 



Eyes — diameter 1/8 of the length of the head. Length of snout equals the distance between the front edge 

 of the eye and the gill-opening. Tubercles variously developed, in some long and acute, in others low : coronet 

 similarly high or low, with a tubercle anteriorly, and surrounded by 5 rudimentary or well-developed spines : a 

 low supraorbital spine and one on either side of the throat, which are of about the same shape, jiointed and 

 curved backwards. Fins — dorsal situated upon the last 2 rings of the trunk, and the first of the tail. Spines 

 — very diversified, exceedingly low in some examples, not so in others. Colours — pale yellow ochre : two rows 

 of blackish spots along the dorsal fin, and occasionally three large brown blotches along the edge of the back 

 on the first, fourth, and seventh body rings : in some there are numerous fine black dots over the body. 

 Sometimes light marks exist on the side of the back, and the body is banded. 



Habitat. — Andamans, Tenasserim to Pinaug and the seas of China. 



2. Hippocampus guttulatus, Plate CLXXIV, fig. 6. 



A. — Synonymy for Atlantic examples. 



Syngnathus, Sp. Brown, Jam. p. 441, No. 1. 



Hippiocampus gnttulatus, Cnv. Regne, Anim. ; Kaup, Lophobr. p. 9 ; Dumeril, Hist. Poiss. ii, p. 509 ; 

 Giinther, Catal. viii, p. 202. 



Hippocamptis j^^'^nctulatus, Guichen in Sagra, Cuba, Poiss. p. 174, pi. v, fig. 2; Kner, Novara Fischc, 

 p. 390 ; Dumeril, 1. c. p. 508. 



Hippocampus long irostris, Kaup, Loj)hobr. p. 12, pi. 3, fig. 2 ; Dumeril, 1. c. p. 518. 



B. — Synonymy for Indian examples. 



Hippocampus kuda, Moluceensis, tmniopterus, polytcenia, and melanospilos, Bleek. Nat. Tyds. Ned. Ind. 

 iii, pp. 82, 305, 306, and vi, pp. 338, 505, and Verb. Bat. Gen. sxv, Trosh. p. 20 ; Dumeril, 1. c. pp. 505, 

 506, 522. 



Hippiocampus comes, Kaup, Lophobr. p. 10 ; Day, Fish. Malabar, p. 202 (not Cant.). 



.'' Hippocampus punctulatus, Kaup, Lophobr. p. 14 (H. Kaupii, Dumeril). 



Hippocampus Deanii, Dumeril, Afric. Occid. Arch. Mus. x, p. 243, and Hist. Poiss, ii, p. 510. 



Hippocampyus punctidatii,s, guttulatus and monckei, Giinther, Fish. Zanz. p. 139. 



D. 16-17 (18), P. 17, A. 4. Osseous rings 11 + 33. 



Eyes — diameter 1/0 to 1/7 of the length of the head, the anterior margins of the orbits situated midway 

 between the end of the snout and the posterior extremity of the head. There are two supraorbital spines 

 directed backwards and outwards. The coronet is rather low, with from 4 to 6 blunt tubercles. The tubercles 

 on the body and tail are generally obtuse. Fins — the dorsal fin stands on the last two body rings and the first 

 two tail rings. Colours — vary, generally gi-ayish marbled with darker and covered with light or dark spots : 

 or brown with black spots or cross bands. Dorsal fin may have a dark intramarginal band with a white outer 

 edge. 



* For the method in which the females introduce the eggs into the egg-carrying pouch of the male, see Fanzago, Atti Soc. 

 Pad. 1874, p. 101. 



