CATOSTEOill, 



229 



front of the soft dorsal fiii. Pehdcs abdominal, joined to the scapular 

 arch. Branchiostegals 3. Pseudobranch and air-bladder present. Small 

 fishes inhabiting f. w. and arms of the sea in Eur., As. and Amer. ; noted 

 for their pugnacity ; they are very destructive to the spa^vn and fry 

 of other fishes. In many species the males build nests for the eggs 

 with blades of grass, etc., cemented together by cutaneous mucus ; the 

 male defends the eggs. Thej' are extremely variable and susceptible 

 to change of conditions. Gasterosteus Artedi, probably only 3 Brit, 

 species, though many varieties have been described as such, G. aculeattcs, 

 the 3-spined, f. w., G. pungitius, the 9-spined, f. w., and G. spinachia, the 

 marine stickleback ; Eucalia Jordan, Pygosteus Brevoort, Apeltes De 

 Kay ; Aulorhynchics Gill. 



Fam. 43. Protosyngnathldae. Extinct. 



Fam. 44. Fistulariidae. Gigantic marine 

 sticklebacks, flute-mouths, pipe-fishes, trop. 

 and sub-trop. Atl. and Indo-Pac. Fistu- 

 laria, Aulostoma, Auliscops. 



Fam. 45. Macrorhamphosidae. Bones of 

 the skuU much prolonged anteriorly formuiii 

 a long tube which bears the short jaws at 

 its end ; two dorsal fins, the spinous short ; 

 pelvics truly abdominal, imperfectly devel- 

 oped ; the 4 anterior vertebrae much elon- 

 gated. Macrorhamphosus Lac. [Centriscus 

 Cuv.), snipe fishes, M. scolopax L., the 

 trumpet or bellows-fish, rarely occurs on S. 

 coast of England ; Amphisile Klein, body so 

 thin as to be semi-transparent, trunk part 

 of vertebral colmnn composed of G verte- 

 brae, and four times as long as the caudal, 

 which consists of 14, with a dorsal cuirass 

 formed by portions of the skeleton. 



C. LOPHOBRANCHII. 



Gills composed of small rounded lobes 

 attached to the branchial arches ; gill-cover a 

 large simple plate ; air-bladder simple, usually 

 without duct (present in Syngnathus acu3) ; 

 skin with bony plates ; muscular system 



feeble ; snout prolonged, bearing the small terminal toothless mouth, 

 bounded above by premaxillaries only ; scapula attached to skuji by 

 post-temporal ; bad swimmers, carried about by ciurents. 



Fam. 46. Solenostomidae. Gill-openings wide, two dorsal fins, the 

 rays of the anterior not articulated ; all the other fins well developed ; 

 in the female the eggs are retained in a brood pouch formed by the broad 

 pelvic fins. Solenostoma Lac, Ind. Ocean, preceded in the tertiary epoch 

 by Solenorhynchus. 



Fam. 47. Syngnathldae. Gfil-openings very small, near the upper 

 posterior angle of the giU-cover ; one soft dorsal fin ; no pelvics ; males 

 with an egg-pouch placed on the ventral side of the tail or abdomen 

 usually formed of two folds of skin ; eggs are retained here till some time 

 after hatching ; small fishes found in all warm seas, sometimes entering f. w. 



Fig. 126 — Male of Hippocam- 

 pus with the brood-pouch. 

 Bri. (from Clans). 



