CATOSTEOMI. 



229 



front of the soft dorsal fin. Pelvics abdominal, joined to the scapular 

 arch. Branchiostegals 3. Pseudobranch and air-bladder present. Small 

 fishes inhabiting f. w. and arms of the sea in Eur., As. and Amer. ; noted 

 for their pugnacity ; they are very destructive to the spawn and fry 

 of other fishes. In many species the males build nests for the eggs 

 with blades of grass, etc., cemented together by cutaneous mucus ; the 

 male defends the eggs. They are extremely variable and susceptible 

 to change of conditions. Gasterosteus Artedi, probably only 3 Brit. 

 species, though many varieties have been described as such, G. aculeatus, 

 the 3-spined, f. w., G. pungitius, the 9-spined, f. w., and G. spinachia, the 

 marine stickleback ; Eucalia Jordan, Pygosteus Brevoort, Apeltes De 

 Kay ; Aulorhynchiis Gill. 



Fam. 43. Protosyngnathidae. Extinct. 



Fam. 44. Fistulariidae. Gigantic marine 

 sticklebacks, flute-mouths, pipe-fishes, trop. 

 and sub-trop. Atl. and Indo-Pac. Fistu- 

 laria, Aulostoma, Aidiscops. 



Fam. 45. Macrorhamphosidae. Bones of 

 the skull much prolonged anteriorly forming 

 a long tube which bears the short jaws at 

 its end ; two dorsal fins, the spinous short ; 

 pelvics truly abdominal, imperfectly devel- 

 oped ; the 4 anterior vertebrae much elon- 

 gated. Maci-orhampJwsus Lac. (Centriscus 

 Cuv.), snipe fishes, M. scolopax L., the 

 trumpeter bellows-fish, rarely occiu"s on S. 

 coast of England ; Amphisile Klein, body so 

 thin as to be semi-transparent, trunk part 

 of vertebral column composed of 6 verte- 

 brae, and four times as long as the caudal, 

 which consists of 14, with a dorsal cuirass 

 formed by portions of the skeleton. 



C. LOPHOBRANCHII. 



Gills composed of small rounded lobes 

 attached to the branchial arches ; gill-cover a 

 large simple plate ; air-bladder simple, usually 

 without duct (present in Syngnathus acus) ; 

 skin with bony plates ; muscular system 



feeble ; snout prolonged, bearing the small terminal toothless mouth, 

 bounded above by premaxillaries only ; scapula attached to skull bv 

 post-temporal ; bad swdmmers, carried about by currents. 



Fam. 46. Solenostomidae. Gill-openings wide, two dorsal fins, the 

 rays of the anterior not articulated ; all the other fins well developed ; 

 in the female the eggs are retained in a brood pouch formed by the broad 

 pelvic fins. Solenostoma Lac, Ind. Ocean, preceded in the tertiary epoch 

 by Solenorhynchus. 



Fam. 47. Syngnathidae. Gill-openings very small, near the upper 

 posterior angle of tlie gill-cover ; one soft dorsal fin ; no pelvics ; males 

 with an egg-pouch placed on the ventral side of the tail or abdomen 

 usually formed of two folds of skin ; eggs are retained here till some time 

 after hatching ; small fishes found in all warm seas, sometimes entering f . w. 



Fig. 126 — Male of Hippocam- 

 pus with the brood-pouch. 

 Brt. (from Claus). 



