PIPE FISHES. SEA-HOESE. 335 



which are to be found in various parts of our sea- 

 shores. The appearance of all this tribe is most 

 remarkable ; their bodies are long and slender, 

 their snouts much elongated, and the whole body 

 is covered with plates, like a coat of mail, and the 

 plates are so disposed that the body is rendered 

 angular. They possess no ventral fins, and in 

 the majority of cases neither pectoral nor caudal 

 fins. But what is more remarkable still is the 

 the fact that, like the kangaroo, these fishes are 

 furnished with a marsupial cavity, into which 

 their young may retreat. Of this tribe there are 

 seven species known on our shores, and differing 

 from each other in various minute respects. Per- 

 haps the most remarkable of these is the species 

 known as the short nosed sea-horse, which is a 

 kind of pipe-fish, somewhat rare on the British 

 shores, although frequent on the continental 

 coasts. The name is suggested by the resemblance 

 which the head of the fish bears to that of a horse. 

 The animal, it appears, is accustomed to use its 

 tail as a prehensile instrument, for which the 

 shape and position of the plates by which it 

 is covered, adapt it; and it is enabled to twist 

 it round marine plants, and wait with its head 

 free, ready to dart upon any object it desires 

 to make its prey. It is said to swim in a vertical 

 attitude, with the tail ready to catch any object 

 within its reach. Two of these singular fish 

 sometimes engage in combat, when they twist 

 tails round each other, and struggle with great 

 violence. The eyes have the faculty of moving 



