FISTULAEIID^. — XLIV. 97 



Family XLIV. FISTULARIID^. (The Trumpet- 

 Fishes.) 



Body elongate ; naked, with some bony plates ; snout produced 

 in a long dilatable tube, with the short jaws at the end; teeth 

 minute; no spinous dorsal; C. forked, its middle rays produced in 

 a long filament ; V. small, with 6 rays. Tropical seas ; one genus, 

 3 species. 



107. FISTULARIA Linnaeus. (Lat.jjistula, a tube.) 



237. P. tabaccaria L. Trumpet-fish. Brown, with blue 

 spots. Head 2f. D. 14. A. 13. Warm seas, rarely N. to N. Y. 

 (Lat., pertaining to tobacco-pipe.) 



Family XLV. GASTEROSTEID^. (The Sticklebacks.) 



Body elongate, with slender tail, naked or shielded with bony 

 plates; head large, compressed, the snout not tubular; mouth 

 moderate, the chin prominent; teeth sharp, in jaws only; sub- 

 orbital large. B. 3; opercles unarmed. D. with 2 to 15 free 

 spines; A. with one spine; V. subabdominal, I, 1. P. short, well 

 behind gill openings, preceded by an area covered with smooth 

 skin. Genera 5, species about 20, in fresh and brackish waters of 

 Northern regions ; small fishes, lively, greedy and quarrelsome, 

 and exceedingly destructive to the spawn of large fishes. Most 

 of them build nests, which they defend with much spirit. 



a. Innominate bones joined, forming a median plate on belly, behind V. 

 b. Gill membranes joined, their border free from isthmus ; spines small. 

 c. Dorsal spines 7 to 11, divergent; pubic bones long, weak, widelj' di- 

 vergent; body slender, mostly naked. . . . Pygosteus, 108. 

 cc. Dorsal spines 5, in right line ; pubic bones short, widely divergent ; 



body stout, naked Eucalia, 109. 



bb. Gill membranes not free from isthmus; dorsal spines 3 or 4, strong, 

 divergent; pubic bones broad, little divergent; form robust; skin 



usually mailed Gasterosteus, 110. 



aa. Innominate bones not joined, each extending as a strong process under 

 skin, outside of V., the area between them flat and not bony ; pubic bones 

 weak; dorsal spines 4, divergent; gill membranes joined to isthmus; 

 tail very slender; skin smooth Apeltes, 111. 



108. PYGOSTEUS Brevoort. (irvyq, rump ; 6(tt(ov, bone.) 



238. P. pungitius (L). Nine-spined Stickleback. Olivace- 

 ous, punctulate and irregularly barred with black. Tail keeled ; eye 

 large. Head 4; depth 5 to 6. D. IX -I, 9. A. I, 8. L. 2^. New 

 York to L. Mich., N. to Greenland, in fresh waters and entering 

 sea. (Eu.) (Lat., pungent.) 



109. EUCALIA Jordan, (ev, good; KoKid, nest.) 



239. E. inconstans (Kirtland). Brook Stickleback. $ in 

 spring jet black, reddish-tinged ; 9 olivaceous, mottled and dotted, 



