I04 



THE MUSEUM. 



THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, MoUusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest on above top- 

 ics, as well as notes on the various Museums of the 

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 handling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of varlour, species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 will be promptly answered. 



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Sea Horses. 



The remarkable Order, called by 

 naturalists LopIiobraiicJis, differ from 

 all other Orders by curious distinctions. 

 They differ from the fish in the pecul 



ill 



iar structure of the 

 which the gills are 

 tufts on each side of the 

 the "cheek" bones or 



arranged 



arches, by 

 in little 

 head under 

 gill covers. 



Hence the name Lophobranch which 

 is derived from the Greek, signifying 

 tiift-gillcd. But perhaps more curious 

 is that distinction drawn from their 

 mode of reproduction ; a trait so strange 

 as to suggest the seemingly abnormal 

 habits of the Marsupial, — the Opossum 

 and the Kangaroo, — although the ec- 

 centricity of the fish is far greater than 

 that of the land Marsupial; for, in the 

 latter, it is the female whose pouch 

 receives the immature young, and 

 which are therein nourished to com- 

 plete their development. The parent- 

 al relation of the female Lophobranch, 

 however, is restricted to the simple 



emission of the unimpregnated eggs. 

 Beyond this, maternity she has none. 

 The male is really and literally father 

 and mother to the progeny; and so far 

 as the reproductive instincts are con- 

 cerned, it would seem that the female 

 manifestation is summed up and ex- 

 hausted in the one solitary and singul- 

 ar act of a formal consignment of the 

 ova to the embryonal sack of the 

 male. 



There are many species of the Lop- 

 hobranch but they are all referable to 

 to three principal groups, of which the 

 Flying Dragon [Pegasus), the Sea 

 Horse [Hippocampns) and the Pipe 

 Fish {Syiignathns) are types. The 

 following observations were made up- 

 on the Hippocampus hiidsoniiis, De 

 Kay, or the common Sea Horse of the 

 Atlantic Coast of the U. S. 



For many years I had been studying 

 the Sea Horse as opportunity occurred 

 but owing to difficulties to tedius to 

 detail, nothing like gratifying success 

 was attained until one day, a weter- 

 man brought me two full grown ones 

 and to my joy they proved to be 

 "gravid" males. Alas! my oft re- 

 peated experience returned; for owing 

 to the shock produced by the ordeal 

 of acclimation, they began to involun- 

 tarily emit their young. None but a 

 working naturalist can appreciate the 

 anxiety I then suffered. The next 

 day one of my hypos died, having from 

 debility set free all its immature 

 young, which were sufficiently devel- 

 oped to indicate plainly their family 

 relation. My estimate was that they 

 were twelve day embryos, f now re- 

 doubled my efforts to invigorate and 

 save the remaining adult, by solicitous- 

 ly watching every circumstance of 

 temperature, aration and light. In 

 spite of all, the emission of the young 

 went on, until instinct prompted by 

 increasing debility, led the parent to 

 expel the rest by voluntary effort. 

 Hou' this was done was a great point 

 gained. Except a few floating fronds 

 of Ulva, other than the fish, there 

 was no object in the water. And 



