I'li'KrisiiKs. 



6(i7 



Ever since FiUEs" pointed nnl the reni;irkiil)le fact 

 thiit tli(^ l;ir\-;i' (if Xeropliix liiiiihiicifiDiiiix are fnrnished 

 with full}' developed and actively employed peclor.d fitis, 

 it has been evident that tlie former of tlie two ahoxc 

 "roups, into which we have aftei- l-'i{ii;s divided the 

 Scandinavian Sijn(jnathni<(\ has heen developed by a. 

 retrogressive metamorphosis from forms agreeing more 

 closely with the liettei' e(|iiipped I \ pes. Tlie Needle- 

 fishes {S//n(/ii(itl/i Opiiiilii in |-'i;ii;s) are also distinguished 

 by a considerabh' smaller head, in adult lishes U'ss than 

 ' ,„ (if the length (if the IkhIv, and a snuiother body, 

 without (ir at least with (inly indistinct longitudinal 

 cariine. It is als(j a rule among the Ldphdbranchs that 

 the larv;e and the \(iung fishes have sharjier cai-iiue or 

 even spines (in the plates (if the bodx, where the older 



lishes show fainter traces thereof. 'I'hiis the Needle- 

 fishes, in this respect too, represent oldei' (more advan- 

 ced) stages of development. This cannot prexent thcni, 

 howe\(fr, from being regarded as less full\ cijuipped 

 e\('n in res]iect to the covering of the bo(l\-. An exotic 

 genus within this group, Protncampus, which otherwise 

 comes fairl\- near NeropJiis, also retains the larval ver- 

 tical tin even in the case of lull-grown specimens, at 

 the dorsal edge both in front of and behind the true 

 dorsal tin, and at the \cntrid edge of the trunk. Again, 

 the maimer in which tlie male Needle-fishes carr\' their 

 eggs, must siireh' be regarded as more priiiiiti\c than 

 the corresponding arrangement in the rest oftlKt.SV/w- 

 flHdtlii. We therefore begin our description with the forms 

 wliicli FiiiKs called TdngsniiUor {St/iK/imllii Mnisnjildlcs). 



(;kms syngnathus'. 



Tlie adult flsl/rs fiiniislicd iritli peitorrd. raiidal. diirsal. (nid final fins. The iippeniidsl rmr af jihitcs mi vach 

 side of till' trunk teniihiatrs jxj.ytcriiirli/ at tlie end of the ilnrsal fin nr Just in front of tJiin jioint. Vi'iit situated 

 in the anterior half of the tiodij. Tin- males carri/ the inijiri'iiiiated ei/i/s in a eanalieiilate sar iindenieiith the tail. 



Some fifty species, known and defined with greater 

 or les.s certainty, are contained within this genus, which 

 is spread over all the seas of the Tropical and Tem- 

 perate Zones, and is represented even in some of the 

 rivers and lakes of the Tropics. 



that close the marsupiani of the male, become swollen, 

 and the marsupinm is gradually tilled with a white, 

 clear, and thick mucus, which serves as a bed for tlu^ 

 eggs, and decreases in (piantitv as the voung grow, 

 until, by the time they are large enough to swim and 



The upjier marginal carina on each side of the tail make iude]iendent progress though the water, little or 

 runs forward in this genus below the posterior part of : none of it remains. One day in the mouth of July I 

 the upper lateral carina of the body, on each side of the | was present at the hauling of a seine in the island- 

 dorsal tin, either to meet the middle lateral cai-iiia of the I belt, and secured a male of this species that had fully 

 trunk or to disappear above its termination. The egg-sac j developed J'oung in the marsupinm. I at once coii- 

 of the males is formed in this genus in the following structed a dam with .stones from the beach, and the 

 manner. The anterior part of the lower marginal carina fish was set in the pool soon after it had been taken 

 of the tail grows obliquely downwards on each side for | from the seine. After it had swum to and fro for a 

 a gi-eater or less part of its length, and along the un- \ while, it opened the marsupinm by a downward luove- 

 der surface of the free margin develops a dermal fold, I merit of the tail, whereupon the young crept out one 

 a continuation of the anal mucous membrane. These I after another and swam under and on both sides of the 

 dermal folds on each side of the body converge towards male, but always kept close to its body at a little di- 

 each other, but without coalescing, their free margins I stance from the marsupinm. As soon as I tried to capture 

 being closely approximated to each other, but leaving a the male, it made a sudden movement, at the same 



slit, which the fish can widen or firmly close at pleasure. 

 "When the spawning-season ap])roaches," says Eicstiu'im 



time bending the body in an arch upwards, and the 

 young at once crept int(j the niarsupiuin, the lids of 



of Syngnathus typhle, "the f(iliat(; lids (dermal folds) which were then shut. The same experiment was re- 



° Metamoi-phos, anmarkt has Ltlln HafsnaUn, Vd. Akiiii. Ilatidl. 1S37, p. .09. 



* Arteui, Iclttliyol., Gen. Pi.ic, p. 1. In his works, however, tliis genus represented the whole of the iiioilern series Lopliol/rancliii. 

 In Aristotle the genus was called (ief.oyri, a name which Athen.eus 9ubseq[uently transferred to the modern Rhampliistoma. Gaza translated 

 jSeAoVjj by acus, which was the most general name of the genus during the Middle .\ges; but Belom -called it Ti/plile or Typhline. 



