542 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 83 



the seahorses were presented to the aquarium by E. O. Freund. of 

 Chicago, that Mr. Freund purchased the specimens from Dagry 

 Freres of Paris, and that they were said to have been caught in the 

 Bay of Biscay. I then wrote to Dagry Freres, who repHed as follows: 

 "Tons les cheveaux marins qui sont fournis par notre Maison provien- 

 uent du Bassin d'Arcachon dans I'Ocean Atlantique." A detailed 

 study shows that irrespective of whether the specimens from Dagry 

 Freres were mixed with those from other sources somewhere along 

 the line of transfer from one party to the other (see next paragraph), 

 it is highly probable that 16 came from the Bay of Biscay. At 

 any rate, there is hardly any question that all 16 belong to one 

 subspecies, which is most closely related to guttulatus, and that they 

 are subspecifically distinct from typical guttulatus from the Medi- 

 terranean. 



One of the specimens in the lot possibly did come from another 

 source. It is apparently a hippocampus, a Mediterranean species. 

 This specimen is discussed at greater length on page 572. 



Briefly, the present subspecies is based on eight specimens with a 

 brood pouch, 101 to 131 mm long, and eight without a brood pouch, 

 103 to 113 mm long (one male and one female with the tail broken 

 off at the end, the female possibly somewhat longer than the largest 

 female with an unbroken tail). The locality of capture, Bay of 

 Biscay, while apparently correct, needs to be verified. The dift'erence 

 in geographical distribution between multiannularis and the typical 

 subspecies of guttulatus remains to be worked out. 



Holotype. — Univ. Michigan Mus. no. 111747; the brood pouch 

 of medium development; caudal segments 40, dorsal rays 20; pectoral 

 rays 18; length 108 mm; depth 15.5, snout 9, postorbital 11, trunk 33, 

 tail 63.5 and orbit 4.5 percent of length (these measurements and 

 coimts are included in the tables and in the foregoing diagnosis). 

 Tlie locality of the type indicated above. 



Paratypes. — Univ. Micliigan Mus. no. 111748; 15 specimens in same 

 lot with the type. 



Uncertain specimen. — A single specimen (93733), somewhat doubt- 

 fully referred to multiannularis, may be described as follows: Without 

 a brood pouch; trunk segments 11, caudal segments 39, dorsal rays 

 20, pectoral rays 16; length 130 mm, depth 13, snout 7.5, postorbital 

 11.5, head 21, trunk 33 and tail 63 percent of length. When these 

 data are compared with tables 1 and 2, it will be noted that the counts 

 of the meristic characters are more as in multiannularis, but possibly 

 the specimen represents an extreme variant of europaeus. The 

 length of the snout is rather intermediate between the specimens of 

 europaeus and multiannularis that were measured, but nearer to the 

 latter. Moreover, it is a large specimen, and the relative length of 



