688 



SCAN] )IN A VI AX FISHES. 



tlifui nttacli tlieiiiselves in some way witli the t;iil ti) 

 the parent fish; but in this expectation he was dis- 

 appointed. After tlie lapse of six days the fish sliowed 

 signs of weakness, and some of tlie eggs began to 

 aO(iuire a sickly apjjeaivince. Life endured, however, for 

 some days more, and on the morning of the ninth day 

 of the captivitv Fhiks oliser\cd Hu'ee young specimens 

 at the sui-face. Latei- in the day thc' fourth appeared, 

 and on the following morning two more; but no moi'e 

 eggs were hatched. The whole mass of eggs now pre- 

 sented a half-decomposed appearance, became detached, 

 together with the adhesive layer of cells, from the body, 

 and broke up piecemeal. The tish died on the same 

 dav towards evening. The larva^ lived seven days, and 

 during this time their size increased from 9 to IS'/o nun. 

 The first point that sui-prised Fries, was the be- 

 lia\iour of the young amongst themselves and towards 

 the parent tish. Thev swam in an upright position, 

 careless of each other, and paying still less attention to 

 their father, who la\' at the bottom and was equally 

 oblivious of them. In order to elucidate this discrepancy 

 from Ekstkom's account of the young of this genus, 

 Fries began to examine the fry more minutely, and 

 found their structure to present the appearance shown 

 in our figure (Plate XXIX, tig. 4, a). The \vhole liody 

 is while and transparent, the spinal column and the 

 intestine within the abdominal cavity shining through. 

 The head measures about ' ,; of the length of the body. 

 The length of the snout, M'hich curves upwards, is greater 

 in ])roportion to that of tlie head than in oldei' speci- 

 niciis. It is also worthy of remark that, whereas in all 

 adult S/jngnathino! the margin of the opercula is united 

 bv a meml)rane and by the general dermal covering to 

 the shoulder girdle, leaving on each side of the occiput 

 only a small foramen for the passage of the respirator}' 

 water, in the young on the other hand this margin is 

 entirely free, the gill-ojjenings thus being large, as in 

 the generality of fishes. The lower figure shows this 

 point with tolerable distinctness. Tht' vent, though it oc- 

 cupies its right place in relation to the dorsal fin, lies 

 nearer the tip of the tail than in older specimens, only 



a little in fi-ont of the middle of the bodv. The plates 

 of the body seem as yet undeveloped; but when the 

 young specimen is examined from above, we see along 

 each side of the bod\' a projecting row of fine teeth, 

 which must be the tips of the transverse vertebral pro- 

 cesses that in older specimens support the dermal rings 

 of plates. FiiiEs counted, as far as he could judge, 18 of 

 these points in front of, and at least .50 behind the vent. 

 The jiectoral fins are small, but distinct, with widened, 

 somewhat rounded tip. Their motion is extraordinarily 

 brisk, but the ra^^s are exti'cmeh' rndimentarv. The 

 true dorsal fin is distinct, but the traces of the inci- 

 pient rays are only faint. Along the dorsal margin 

 Ijchiiid tliis fin, round the tip of the tail, and along the 

 ventral margin forward to the vent, runs the embryonic 

 vertical fin, the chief organ of locomotion in the fry. 

 Such is Fries's description of Ins find; and the ecpii])- 

 nient of the larva» with comparatively well-developed 

 organs of motion explains, it is true, their capal)ilitv 

 of independent life. But here this explanation stops, 

 for the larva- of the preceding geiuis may l)e equally 

 well equipped in this respect, though thev still take 

 refuge in the niarsupium of the male. 



The geographical range of the Woi-m Pipefish, ns 

 far as we know at present, does not extend so far north 

 as that of the preceding species. St(jr:\i never found it 

 in Trondhjem Fjord; but on the coast of the Govern- 

 ment of Bergen it has been met with at several spots, 

 according to Collett. In Christiania Fjord it is not 

 rare. Ofl' the Weatiier Islands and outside Gullmar 

 Fjord it has been taken on several occasions. Kroyeu 

 and Peter MCller have found it on the north coast 

 of Zealand (}lornl);\>k and Helleba'k), but further south 

 in the Sound and in the Baltic it is unknown. All 

 round Great Britain and Ireland it is common enough, 

 according to Day. This is also the case on the north- 

 west coast of France, according to Moreau, at- least 

 at certain spots; and according to the same author it 

 occurs, though rarely, even in the Bay of Biscay. No 

 instance is known of its occurrence in the Mediter- 

 ranean. 



