386 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
l88._IIIPPOCAinPUS Rafiuesque.* 
Sea Uorscfi. 
(Rafinesqne, Indice d’lttiologia Siciliana, 1810, 37; type Syngnatlms hippocampus L. = 
Hippocampus hcptagonus Raf.) 
]>o(ly strongly compressed, the belly gibbous, tapering abruptly to 
a long, (piadrangnlar, prehensile tail. Head with a distinct curved 
neck, placed nearly at a right angle with the direction of the body, 
surinonnted by a compressed occipital crest, on the top of which is an 
angular, star-shaped coronet; top and sides of the head with spines. 
Body and tail covered with bony plates, forming rings, those on the 
body each with 0 spines or tubercles, those of the tail with 4. Pectoral 
fins present; anal minute, usually present; dorsal fin moderate, opposite 
the vent. Pgg-poueh in the male a sac at the base of the tail, termi- 
nating near the vent. Species numerous, in all warm seas, {l-rzoxap-oc, 
the ancient name, from In-uc;, horse; xdii-o?, a wriggling sea-monster, or 
a catei’i^illar.) 
619. H. BaejJJagomHS Raf. — Sea Horse. 
Yellowish brown ; eyes and cheeks with radiating wavy lines of light 
brown ; snout with a narrow white cross-band near its middle {fide 
(toode) ; sides with a few small pale si)ots ; dorsal dusky above. Tuber- 
cles of body and tail prominent, slightly recurved, usually provided 
with slender filaments, the tubercles of each alternate or each third ring 
on the back usually larger than the others. Occipital crest very high, 
with 5 tubercles, the anterior with long filaments. Snout as long as the 
opercle, which is marked with radiating strim. B. 18 ; P. 18 ; A. 4. 
Bings 11 -f 36. L. 5 inches. Warmer parts of the xYtlantic ; north to 
England and IS^ewfouudlaud ; rather rare on our coast. Very abundant 
in the ^Mediterranean. Euroi^ean exanijiles examined by ns are pro- 
fusely spotted, the snout plain; ours is possibly a different s])ecies. 
{Syngnathus hippocampus L. Syst. Nat. ; Rafiiiesque, 1. c. 37 : Hippocampus aniiquorum 
Leach, Zool. Misc. 1814, 104; Hippocampus antiquorum Giinthcr, viii, 200; Hippocampus 
■antiquorum Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. Ylns. 1878, 45; Hippocamqms hrcrirostris Cuvier, 
R^yno Auim. ; Hippocampus hudsonius DoKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 322 ; Hippocampus 
hudsonius Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass. 41G; ^Hippocampus la'iicaudqtus Giiuther, viii, 205, 
“ tail without kuobs.”) 
620. BI. inirctas Grd. 
Chestnut brown, mottled with darker, and dotted with wliite. Body 
rather slender, its depth about equal to the distance from snout to ]>os- 
* = Hippocampus Leach, Zool. Misc. 1814, 103. 
