382 CONTEIBUTIONS TO NOTITH AMERICAN ICnTHYOLOGY. IV. 



ANALYSIS OF THE FAMILIES OF LOPnOBRANCHII. 



a. No spinous dorsal fin; no ventral fins; gill-oponings narrow. 



b. Axis of head in a line with that of the body S yngxathid.E, 58. 



hh. Axis of the head forming an angle with that of the body.-HipPOCAMPiDJE, 59. 



Family LVIII.— SYNGNATHIDJE. 



The Pipc-JisJics. 



Body elongate, very slender, covered with bony plates. Head slender, 

 its axis continuous with that of the body. Snout long, tube-like, bear- 

 ing the short toothless jaws at the end. Gill-openings reduced to a 

 small aperture behind the upper part of the opercle. Tail long, not 

 prehensile, 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 i>oucli and retained until 

 some tioie after hatching, when the pouch opens, i^ermitting 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. 



(Syngnathidcv, group Syngnathina Giinther, viii, 153-193.) 



a Humeral hones united below; caudal fin present; pectoral fins well developed; 

 dorsal nearly opposite the vent Siphostoma, 187. 



1§'S'.— iSIPMOSTOMA" Eafinesque. 

 {Syngnatlms of most recent authors.) 

 (Eafinesque, Caratteri di alcuni Nuovi Generi, 18, IHIO: type Si/ngnathus pelagicus L.) 

 Body elongate, very slender, six or seven angled, not compressed, 

 tapering into a very long tail; the dorsal keels of the truidc 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 Syngnatlms of Linna?us, originally equivalent to the modern order of 

 Lophobranchii, was first subdivided by Eafinesque in 1810. The name Siphostoma waa 

 given to S. pelagicus, and its relatives, the Syngnatlms of late writers, that of Tiplile 

 to S. typhle, the Siphonostoma of late writers, while Syngnatlms was retained for S. 

 cequoreus and its relatives, the group now usually called Neropliis. 



