382 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY. IV, 
ANALYSIS OF THE FAMILIES OF LOPIIOnUANCIIII. 
a. No spinons dorsal fin ; no ventral fins; gill-openmgs narrow. 
b. Axis of head in a line with that of the body Syngnatiiid.e, 58. 
bh. Axis of the head forming an angle with that of the hody..lIirroCAMPiDA2, . 90. 
Family LVIII.— SYNGNATIIID^E. 
The Pipe-fishes. 
Body elongate, very slender, covered witli bony plates. Head slender, 
its axis continuous with that of tlie body. Snout long, tubedike, bear- 
ing the short toothless jaws at the end. Gill-openings reduced to a 
small aperture behind the uiiper part of the opercle. Tail long, not 
lirehensile, usually provided with a small caudal fin. Male fishes with 
an egg pouch, usually placed on the under side of the tail, sometimes 
on the abdomen, and formed of two folds of skin which meet on the 
median line. The eggs are received into this pouch and retained until 
some time after hatching, when the pouch opens, permitting the young 
to escape. Dorsal fin single, nearly median, of soft rays only; pectorals 
present, small; ventrals none; anal fin minute, usually present. Genera 
10 or more; species 120. Small fishes, found in all warm seas, some- 
times entering fresh waters. 
{Syngnatlndce, group Sgnguathina Giinther, viii, 153-193.) 
a Humeral hones united iielow; caudal fin present; pectoral fins well developed; 
dorsal nearly opposite the vent Sipiiostoma, 187. 
187 .— SIPI50ST017IA* Rafincsque. 
(Sgngnatlius of mo.st recent authors.) 
(Rafinesque, Caratteri di alcuui Nuovi Gencri, 18, 1810: type Sgngnathus pelagicus L.) 
Body elongate, very slender, six or seven angled, not compressed, 
tapering into a very long tail; the dorsal keels of the trunk not contin- 
uous with those of the tail. Head slender, tapering into a long tube- 
like, sub terete snout, which bears the very short, toothless jaws at the 
end. Humeral bones firmly united with the “breast-ring.” Body cov- 
ered with a series of bony, keeled, radiated plates, arranged in linear 
series. Dorsal fin distinct, rather short, opposite the vent, which is 
near the middle of the body; caudal fin present, rather small; anal fin 
* The genus Syngnallius of Linnaeus, originally equivalent to the modern order of 
Lophobranchii, was first subdivided by Rafinesque in 1810. The name Sq)hostoma was 
given to S. pelagicus, and its relatives, the Sgngnathus of late writers, that of Tiphle 
to 5. tgphlc, the Siphonostoma of late writers, while Sgngnathus was retained for S. 
aquorcus and its relatives, the groui) now usually called Nerophis. 
