pattern of the adjacent region of the body, they 

 are inconspicuous in spite of their size. The sea- 

 horse has the curious facility of rotating either of 

 these organs in its socket independently of the 

 other. Just back of the eyes are the large gill- 

 covers. If one of these be lifted, it will be found 

 that the gills, unlike those of ordinary fishes — in 

 which these organs are always arranged in a leaf- 

 like series — are each produced into a clump, a 

 compacted cluster of small rounded nodules, the 

 whole mass having a convex configuration. 



The entire body of the sea-horse is encased in a 

 tough horny skin or skeleton. This rigid armor con- 

 sists of segments allowing but little freedom of 

 movement; the body can be bent forward at the 

 head region and the tail; to a much less degree it 

 can be flexed sidewise ; and not at all in a backward 

 direction. As a consequence of this limited range 

 of body movement, the animal is a poor swimmer — 

 it must needs continually cling to some support 

 lest it be carried about against its will by the cur- 

 rents. (Indeed, it can make no headway whatever 

 against a current of the most moderate force.) This 

 it is enabled to do by its remarkable prehensile tail. 



When it does attempt to swim, it maintains an 



[277] 



