156 THE SYNGNATHID AND HIPPOCAMPID FISHES-GILL. v6l.xviii. 



substituted. I do not anticipate, liowever, that they will be found to 

 be definitive of the most natural arrangement, but the labor of years 

 and a close and rigorous comparison of the skeletons of many genera 

 will be requisite before such perfection is attainable. Meanwhile the 

 notes here x)resented may be of some use in directing attention to 

 features hitherto observed and as tentative to future work. 



Some erroneous conceptions have been entertained and misstatements 

 made respecting features of the pipefish's structure. Only a few need 

 be here noticed, however. Such are the statements that the preoi)er- 

 culiim and interoperculum are wanting, that the intermaxillaries are 

 also absent, and that the symplectic is a ver^' important element. The 

 preoperculum and interoi)erculum, as well as intermaxillaries, are devel- 

 oped, but I am unable to identify the symplectic. In no respect do the 

 Lophobranchs deviate so materially from ordinary fishes as has been 

 supposed. But, as long ago shown by Parker, they manifest, in addi- 

 tion to the peculiarities generally noticed, deviations in the scapular 

 arch. There is no posterotemporal, the posttemi)oral and proscapula 

 being immediately connected, and the "coraco- scapular plate "is entire 

 and not broken up into hypercoracoid and hyi^ocoracoid bones. 



III. 

 Order LOPHOBRANCHII. 



S>j)ionyms as Order. 

 <^Lopho})ranches, Cuvier, Regue Animal, le 6(1., II, p. 155, 1817. 

 <^Ostcodermi, Boxapahte, Giorn. Accad, di Scieuze, LIT (Saggio Distrib. 



Metod, Animali Vertebr. a Sangue Freddo, p. 39), 1832; Nuovi Aunali delle 



Sci. Nat., II, p. 130, 1838; IV, p. 185, 1840.' 

 <^Burs'n)ari vel Inciibatores, Nardo, Atti Cougressi Scieuze Ital. rac. et ord., I, 



p. 70, 1842 (1844). 

 <^Lophobranchii, Girakd, Exp], and Siirv. for R. R. Route to Pacific Oc, X, 



Fishes, p. 78, 1858. 

 "^Solenostomi, Bleeker, Enum. Sp. Pise. Arcbiji. Ind., p. xiv, 1859.* 

 '^Syngnathi, Bleeker, Enum. Sp. Pise. Arcbip. Ind., p. xv, 1859. 

 =^Prostomides, Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss., II, ji. 495, 1870. 

 =Lophobranchii, GCnther, Cat. Fisbes Brit. Mus., YIII, pp. 150, 186, 1870. 

 =Lo2)hoiranchH, Cope, Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., XX, x^- 330, 1872. 

 =.LopliohranchH, Fitzinger, Sitzungsber. k. Akad. der Wissenscb., Wien, LXVII, 



1. Abtb., p. 49, 1873. 



Synonym as Subclass. 

 Lophobranches, Dumeril, Hist. Nat. Poiss., II, pp. 473, 488, 1870 (sous-classe). 



Suborder SYNGNATHI. 



Synonym as Order. 

 z^Syngnathi, Bleeker, Enum. Sp. Pise. Arcbip. Ind., p. xv, 1859. 



iTbe"Sectio 2. Lopbobrancbii (Synguathi) " of Bonaparte (op. cit.) is coequal 

 witb tbe "Ordo III. Osteodermi." 



'^Tbe "series Hyperostomi" of tbe "sublegio Lopbobrancbii sen Uactylodermi," 

 Bleeker, Enum. Sp. Pise. Arc. Ind., p. xiv, 1859, is coequal ■with tbe order Loiibo- 

 brancbii as bere accepted. 



