VEQIOIJKAL I'll'EI'ISM. 



681 



Till' -l'"i|iiiin-;il I'iix'fisli is tlie largest of all our 

 Siiii(/ii(itlii)i(i\ it attains a K'liglli ut' at least (i dm." 

 The teiiiales are largest, th(?ir usual size in Scandinavia, 

 according to Fries, being 45 — 55 cm., while the length 

 of the males is usually between 32 and 40 cm. The 

 form of the trunk also shows a considerable sexual dif- 

 ference. It geueralh' displays more lateral compression 

 than in the prece<ling forms, but most in the females, 

 this being due to the more or less advanced develop- 

 ment of the dermal carina that runs along the dorsal 

 and ventral margins of the trunk, but which is want- 

 ing in the males and young specimens. The tail is 

 more slender and more terete (its section more circulai") 

 than in the i>receding forms. A section of the trunk 

 shows an oval, octagonal form, in the females pointed 

 at both ends; the section of the tail is a rounded square. 

 The greatest breadth of the trunk measui'es in the fe- 

 males about 70 "a, in the males about 90 % of its 

 greatest depth; the yoimg specimens stand about mid- 

 way between these two extremes. The greatest depth 

 of the body in the males is about 2\ ., %, in the females 

 about 2' J % of the length thereof. At the beginning 

 of the tail the depth of the body measures in the fe- 

 males about 60 %, in the males about 70 % of the 

 greatest depth, or in the former about 11 %, in the 

 latter alxnit 12 or 13 % of the length of the base of 

 the dorsal fin. 



In addition to the above-mentioned generic cha- 

 racter that the caudal rows of plates fonn a continuation 

 of the two up])ermost rows of the trunk on each side 

 of the body, this species and the following one are 

 especially remarkable for the great number of rings on 

 the bodv, a lunnber which, at least in this species, may 

 rise to 100. The last caudal rings are so small, how- 

 ever, that they can scarcely be counted with the naked 

 eye. The so-called occipital plates are without carina;, 

 but are as usual grooved; the anterior is about half 

 the size of the pi.isterior. 



The head is most like that of the Lesser Pipefish, but 

 is comparatively smaller, with smaller eyes and with less 

 prominent carina^ both on the snout and especially on 

 the gill-cover, where .scarcely a trace of a middle carina 

 can be found. The snout is terete and strainht, ascend- 



ing only slightly. Tiie lorehead is hollowed into a long, 

 shallow concavity. The length of the head varies in 

 adult specimens between about 7V3 and 9 % (7.6 — 8.8 

 %, according to our mcasui-cmcnts) of that of the body. 

 In young specimens (between 12 and 17 cm. long) the 

 length of the head measures aliout 27 % of the distance 

 between the dorsal fin and tlie tip of the snout, in old 

 specimens 22 — 24' \, % thereof. The length of the snout 

 varies between about 44 atid 54 % of that of the head, 

 and generallj- begins to exceed '/a of the latter in spe- 

 cimens 37 cm. long. The postorbital length of the head 

 varies between about 43 and 38 % of its entire length, 

 and this percentage generally begins to sink below 40 

 in specimens 37 cm. long. The longitudinal diameter 

 of the eyes may measure about 14 % of the length of the 

 head even in specimens 35 cm. long; in specimens 44 cm. 

 long it measures about ', j,, of the same. The least depth 

 of the snout varies in different individuals and according 

 to age between about 29 and 18 % of its OAvn length. 

 The dorsal fin is of fairly uniform height, this 

 being always distinctly greater than the depth of the 

 body at the vent. It begins at a distance from the 

 tip of the snout that in the males does not exceed 

 35 % (31 ',2 — 34^'^ %, according to our measurements) 

 of the length of the body, but in the females (at least 

 the older ones) does not fall below 37 % thereof'. The 

 length of its base increases with age from about 1 2 % 

 to 14' 3 % of that of the body. The vent lies below 

 the posterior part of the fin, at a distance from the 

 tip of the snout that in the males measures about 39' ^ 

 — 43V2 % (39'6 — 43'6 %, according to our measurements 

 of specimens between 12 and 37 cm. long), in the older 

 females 47 — 49 % of the length of the body. One re- 

 sult of this is that the length of the trunk behind the 

 gill-covers, in young specimens less than 17 cm. long 

 (we have never examined any young females), measures 

 only slightly more than " ^ (about 51 %), in the older 

 males about ' - (59 — 64 %), and in the older females 

 about ^U (74—78 %) of the length of the tail. In these 

 differences, depending on age and sex, lies the most im- 

 portant character that has been employed as a specific 

 distinction between Nerojihis (equoretts (?) and Net: 

 (iiif/iiinciis (d"). 



" From Ireland we liear o£ still larger specimens. "Last winter." writes Blake-Knox in August, 181)6 (Zoologist, vol. XXIV, p. 508)^ 

 "I met witli an immense fish of this kind: seeing a boy "whacking" a donkej- with a gutta-percha stick, as I thought, I asked him where 

 he got it. "It is only a stalk of a snot (seaweed), sir; see:" and I did see a fine iequoreal, 3 feet 5 inches long. Of its toughness you 

 may judge. Is not uncommonly taken in the baskets with whelks and crabs." 



* KnovEn, however, mentions a female (sign. B among the specimens mentioned by liini) iu wliicl] this sexual character is absent. 



