110 THE STORY OF FISH LIFE. 



fishes, devolves upon the male. In some, as in 

 the common pipe-fish {Syngnathus acus), the eggs 

 are placed hy him in a pouch formed by a fold 

 of skin, which develops along each side of the 

 abdomen, and finally meets in the middle line. 

 Here the eggs remain till they are hatched. 

 But the pouch is by no means done with on this 

 event, for the young continue to occupy it for 

 some considerable time, leaving it at once and 

 returning if danger threatens. Mr Yarrell relates 

 a very curious fact that he was told by some 

 fishermen. To wit, that if they take a pipe-fish, 

 open the pouch, and drop the young into the 

 sea, these will not disperse, but hover around 

 the spot, as if waiting for their parent. Then, 

 if they hold the newly-opened fish in the water, 

 the young immediately return to it and enter 

 the pouch. In the sea-horses (Hippocampus) this 

 is more completely closed than in the pipe-fishes, 

 only a small anterior aperture being present. 

 In some pipe-fish, e.g. the tropical Dvryichthys, 

 the eggs are said to be " glued " to the skin of a 

 broad groove on the under surface of the males. 

 This groove would seem to indicate the begin- 

 ning from which the complete pouch has been 

 developed. 



Some fishes, as in the viviparous wrasses, 

 many blennies and carps, the eggs are hatched 

 within the body of the parent, so that the young 

 are produced alive. 



The roach-like bitterling (Bhoderis amarus), of 

 European waters, is remarkable on account of 

 the fact that the oviduct is produced into a long 

 tube, which serves the purpose of the ovipositor 



