LOPHOBRANCHIJE. SYNGNATHIDJE. 



TAB. II. 



HIPPOCAMPUS RAMULOSUS, Leach. 



Cavallo marinho. 



The Stag-Horned Horse-fish or Hippocampus. 



Char. Gen. 



Corpus compressum, cauda abrupte altius, catapliractum, scutato-areolatum, costato-cancellatum ; 

 angulis tuberculatis. Cavda distincta, incurva ; apice simplici, nuda. Caput abrupte deflexum. 

 Pinna veutrolis cattdalisque nulla. 



Obs. — Pisces minores, aspectu monstroso, mirifico ; capite cum corpore caput cum cervice equinum 

 referente ; indole pigriore, tardi ; segre libere natantes, sed ima petentes, cauda prehensili capiteque 

 inter algas zoophytasque rupesque scandentes. 



Char. Spec. 



H. livido-cameus, scaber : nucha dorsoque caudaque duplici serie frondoso-jubatis : corporis angulis 

 jateralibus palmato-frondiferis : capite frondibus magnis, distinctis ornato ; duobus superciliaribus, 

 occipitalibusque duobus ; uno frontali, unoque temporali utrinque : rostro brevi, utrinque frondoso- 

 ciliato. 



D.-17; A. 4; P. 15. 



H. ramulostis. Leach, Zool. Misc. I. 105. t. 47. — Syn. Mad. Fishes, in Trans. Zool. Soc. p. 192. 



H. rosaceus, Risso, Hist. iii. 184. no. 68 ? 



Longit. (exempli unici)=5 poll.=5xlongit. capitis. 

 Tempiis, autumno (Augusto). 

 Locus, prope littus, saxosis. rariss. 



The singular little animals wliicli constitute the genus Hippocampus 

 have long attracted the attention of the curious. In the Mediterranean 

 they seem not to he uncommon ; and, retaining by simple drying all the 

 character and form of life, most Neapolitan collections include an individual 

 of one or other of the species, resembling more some artificial whim of inge- 

 nuity or trick than a real natural production. Indeed, even in the eyes of 

 the experienced ichthyologist, they bear little external likeness to the tribe 

 of fishes ; with which, by internal anatomy and real structure, they are, 

 however, properly associated. 



A modern discovery has proved the Si/ngnathidce to be no less anoma- 

 lous in certain of their habits than in their form. It had long been known 

 to naturalists* that the eggs, after extrusion, were carried about by the 



* Aristotle and both his copyists, ^lian and Pliny, of the ancients ; see M\mn, lib. ix. cap. 60, 

 and XV. 16 : and for modern authorities, see Rondel. "229, and Schneider's Exturs. 3, " De acu ma- 

 rina seu /SsXom," in MMan. p. 575. 



VOL. I. C 



