THE MUSEUM. 



105 



here the structure of the Sea Horse's 

 tail must be borne, in mind, so unlike 

 that of any other fish, covered with 

 an envelope consisting of bony scales; 

 four sided, and sugjijesting a small 

 square tile; in faculty, prehensile like 

 that of some monkeys, and of consid- 

 erable length. Binding this append- 

 age upward like an inverted crook, 

 thus imparting to it muscular rigidity 

 the animal pressed it against the bot- 

 tom of the embryonal pouch, which 

 occupied the lower part of the abdo- 

 men thus pushing its contents upwards, 

 and forcing them out of the opening 

 on the top of the sack; the creature all 

 the time sustaining its normal, erect 

 position in the water. The extruded 

 young immediately perished. Reliev- 

 ed of his charge my hippo soon recov- 

 ered strength, and became for several 

 months an interesting pet. 



On the Sth of September fortune 

 smiled and brought me another 

 "graved" male Hippocampus. This 

 also, under the weakening effect of 

 acclimation, began excluding the young 

 and emitted a full dozen. Circum- 

 stances favoring and profiting by a 

 varied experience, I was enabled to 

 carry my new Hippo safely through 

 the dreaded ordeal. Most anxiously 

 was he watched day by day. To my 

 astonishment no enlargement of the 

 embryonal sack could be detected. I 

 supposed that as the young increased 

 in size, the distension of the pouch 

 would go on equally. Again my ap- 

 prehensions was aroused, for I feared 

 all were dead. 



September 2 1 St proved a red-letter 

 day. Near noon I observed three 

 young Sea Horses swimming about. 

 They had just made their ilcbut. \'ery 

 minute creatures they were; but, to 

 my great joy, nearly perfect. From 

 that hour the Patcr-jiiater kept busy 

 setting his progeny adrift. At the bot- 

 tom of the vessel was a broken winkle 

 shell, put there for the attachment of 

 the animal's tail, when fatigued by 

 swimming, as the Sea Horse is very 

 easily tired, and this, monkey like, is its 



Sea Horse. 



favorite mode of taking rest. The 

 Winkle afforded real help in the labor 

 of extruding the young, which is in no 

 sense a parturient process, but on the 

 contrary is entirely mechanical, and 

 in the present case was effected in the 

 following manner: With its abdomen 

 turned toward the shell, its tail attach- 

 ed to the under part of it, the body 

 erected to its full height, the animal 

 by a contractile exertion of the proper 

 muscks would draw itself downwards 

 and against the shell, thus rubbing the 

 pouch upward, and in this simple yet 

 effective way, expelled the fry at the 

 opening on top of the sack. It was 

 said above that the Sea Horse is soon 

 wearied, with even moderate exertion; 

 hence, probably, it was, that these re- 

 peated aets were each followed by a 

 few minutes of rest. Indeed the ex- 

 trusion of its young lasted for nearly 

 six hours, from three to six individuals 

 being set free at a time. 



The scene that followed was one of 

 singular and lively interest. I was 

 nervous with delight and wished that 



