PIPE-FISHES. 281 



wanting; and the pectorals, when present, are 

 very minute. 



Genus Hippocampus, (Linn.) 



The body in this singular genus is compressed 

 or flattened laterally, and is much deeper than 

 the tail ; the muzzle is narrow and tubular, with 

 the mouth opening at the point nearly horizon- 

 tally. The profile is angular ; there is one small 

 dorsal, no caudal, and no ventrals ; small pec- 

 torals, and a minute anal in the male only. The 

 margins of the angular plates in which the body 

 is encased are raised in ridges, and the angles 

 form spines. The slender tail is prehensile, and 

 enables the little fish to hold on, or to climb 

 by the stalks of marine plants. Specimens are 

 often dried as curiosities, and the head and fore- 

 parts assuming somewhat of the figure of those 

 of a miniature horse, they are commonly called 

 Sea-horses. 



A little species, the Short-nosed Sea-horse 

 {Hippocampus brevirostris, Cuv.), is found, but 

 in no abundance, on the shores of the British 

 Islands. It is about five inches in length, of 

 a pale ashy hue, with a changeable iridescence 

 of flitting hues playing over its body, mingled 

 with variable shades of blue : the eyes are pale 

 yellow. 



The food of this, as of kindred . species, is 

 believed to consist of minute animals and spawn, 

 which are supposed to be drawn up the tubular 

 mouth, by the dilatation of the throat, on the 

 same principle that water rushes up a syringe, 

 when a vacuum is formed by a retraction of the 



