238 Stover's Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 



Ammodytes tobianus, Sand-Launce, Bloch, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. Y., i. p. 363. 



" " Sand-Eel, Storer's Report, p. 159. 



Ammodytes Americanus, American Sand-Launce, Dekay's Report, p. 317, pi. 52, fig. 167. 

 Ammodytes lancea, Ayres, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., IV. p. 2S0. 

 Ammodytes tobianus, Little Sand-Eel, Linsley's Cat. of Fishes of Connecticut. 

 Ammodytes lancea, Banded Sand-Launce, *' " " 



Specimens of this Ammodytes, which in my Report I considered the A. tobianus, were 

 sent to Mr. Yarrell, who writes me, — "I feel quite satisfied that it is distinct from both 

 the tobianus and lancea." Never having seen the foreign species, I cheerfully prefix Dr. De- 

 kay's specific name, after this careful comparison by the distinguished British ichthyologist. 



2. Ammodytes vittatus, Dekat. 

 Body oblong, subcompressed, slender. Greenish olive above, with a broad silvery band 

 along the sides, which is margined above with blackish ; belly white. Seven projecting 

 spinous processes before the dorsal fin. 



D. 7, 54. P. 15. A. 28. C. 191. Length, 4 to 6 inches. 

 New York, Dekay. 



Ammodytes Yiltatus, Banded Sand-Launce, Dekay's Report, p. 318, pi. GO, fig. 197. 



LOPHOBRANCHII. 



Gills, instead of being, as usual, pectiniform, are divided into little round 

 tufts, dispersed in pairs along the branchial arches. 



FAMILY XXVIII. SYNGNATHIDiE. 



Body mailed with transverse angular plates. Opercle large ; branchial 

 opening very small, and formed by a membrane which only exhibits vestiges 

 of rays. Dorsal single. No coeca ; with an air-bladder. 



GENUS I. SYNGNATHUS, Lin. 



Body elongated, slender, covered with a series of indurated plates, arranged 

 in parallel lines ; head long ; both jaws produced, united, tubular ; no ventral 

 fins. Males with a pouch for the reception of the female roe. 



1. Syngnathus Peckianus, Storer. 



Olive-brown, with darker-colored blotches or bars. The posterior portion of the body is 

 darker than the anterior. Beneath, anterior to the vent, of a beautiful golden-yellow ; por- 

 tion back of vent nearly white. Body, anterior to vent, heptangular ; in front of posterior 

 extremity of the dorsal fin, hexangular ; posteriorly quadrangular. Nineteen transverse 

 plates in front of anus ; forty plates between the anus and the caudal fin. 



