THE PIPEFISHES AND SEA HORSES 



2797 



resented in a fossil state in the middle Eocene of Monte Bolca, where there likewise 

 occurs an extinct genus of sea horses. Including several genera, the pipefishes 

 are characterized by the absence of prehensile power in the tail, which generally 

 terminates in a fin. In the typical genus Syngnathus, as represented by the great 

 pipefish (S. acus), shown in our illustration, the body is marked with more or less 

 distinct longitudinal ridges, among which the one down the back is not continuous 

 with that on the tail. The pectorals are well developed, the caudal present, and 

 the dorsal fin placed nearly or exactly above the vent. In the males the pouch is 

 fully developed, and of the type described above. The great pipefish is a common 



FUCUS-UKE SEA HORSE. 

 (Two-thirds natural size.) 



species in European seas, extending westward across the Atlantic and southward to 

 the Cape, and grows to a length of a foot and a half. As an example of a second 

 genus, we may mention the deep-nosed pipefish (S. typhle) of the British seas 

 distinguished by the upper ridge on the tail being continuous with the lateral line, 

 but not with the dorsal ridge. In the tropical genus Doryichthys, as in some others, 

 we find that the eggs are only glued to the skin of a broad groove on the under sur- 

 face of the males, instead of being protected by a closed pouch. The slender 

 straight-nosed pipefish (Nerophis ophidium), which may not unfrequently be seen 

 served up among a dish of whitebait, is a British example of a fourth genus, in 



