PIPE-FISHES. 279 



them, these have obtained the name of Pipe- 

 fishes. The body is covered with a cuirass of 

 bony plates, generally of angular form, and so 

 arranged that the body itself is many-sided. 

 The gill-covers are large, but soldered down for 

 the greatest part of their edge, leaving only a small 

 orifice for the discharge of the water which has 

 been respired. The gill-rays are formed in the 

 usual manner, but the gills themselves, instead 

 of taking the form of fringes, set in parallel 

 series like comb-teeth, are disposed in small tufts 

 set on the arches in pairs ; a structure of which 

 there is no other example in the whole Class. 



The reproduction of the species in this Fa- 

 mily is attended with some circumstances truly 

 anomalous. The male acts as a sort of nurse 

 for the rearing of the infant progeny, thus reliev- 

 ing his mate of the parental cares which usually 

 devolve upon the female. For this end he has 

 on the abdomen, extending for about two-thirds 

 of its length, two soft flaps which fold together, 

 and thus form a false belly or pouch. The 

 spawn is deposited by the mother in this recep- 

 tacle of her partner, where it becomes matured, 

 and in which the young escape from the cap- 

 sules. But even when active, and able to shift 

 for themselves, the young resort, in cases of 

 alarm, to the paternal pouch for shelter. Mr, 

 Yarrell was assured by fishermen that if the 

 young of the Great Pipe-fish {Syngnathus acus, 

 Linn.) were shaken out of the pouch into the 

 water over the side of the boat, they did not 

 swim away, but when the parent fish was held 

 in the water in a favourable position, the young 

 would again enter the receptacle. The analogy 



