SYNGNATHUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) OSTEODERMI. 485 



the depth of the body, and nearly uniform throughout, the anterior rays 

 being slightly shorter than the succeeding ones ; all the rays simple : 

 vent in a line with the seventh dorsal ray ; anal immediately behind it, 

 very small and inconspicuous, consisting of only three short simple rays : 

 caudal moderate, rounded; the rays simple and articulated: pectorals 

 a little behind the gills, not very large, of a rounded form ; all the rays 

 simple. 



D. 42; A. 3; C. 10; P. 12. 



{Colours.) Pale yellowish brown, with transverse bands of darker brown : 

 belly whitish. 



Not uncommon on many parts of the coast, frequenting chiefly the shal- 

 lower places. I am not aware, however, that in the British seas it ever 

 attains to the length which Bloch assigns to it. This and several other 

 species in the present genus are remarkable for the males carrying the 

 ova, until hatched, and even the young themselves for a short time after 

 they have been hatched, in a peculiar longitudinal pouch beneath the 

 tail, into which the former are received, at the time of their exclusion 

 by the female*. The present species breeds in Summer, and at a very 

 early age, sometimes when not exceeding four inches in length. Obs. 

 This and the next were considered by Pennant as mere varieties of one 

 species, to which he applied the name of Shorter Pipe-Fish. The same 

 opinion appears to have been entertained by Montagu t. 



-^* 



173. S. Typhle, Linn. (Lesser Pipe-Fish.) Body 

 hexangular anteriorly : crown flat ; profile nearly in the 

 same line : snout almost as broad, vertically, as the 

 head. 



S. Typhle, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 416. Bloch, Ichth. pi. 91. 

 f. 1.? Don. Brit. Fish. vol. in. pi. 56. Turt. Brit. Faun. p. 116. 

 Flem. Brit. An. p. 175. Acus Aristotelis, Will Hist. Pise. p. 158. 

 tab. I. 25. f. 1. Pipe-Fish, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. pi. 23. no. 60. 

 upper fig. but not p. 138. Shorter Pipe-Fish, Id. (Ed. 1812.) 

 vol. in. pi. 26. no. 60. upper fig. 



LENGTH. One foot : rarely more. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Thicker in proportion to its length than the last 

 species ; the ventral carina not so prominent, causing the anterior part 

 of the body to appear more hexangular than heptangular : number of 

 transverse shields between the gills and the vent the same, but from 

 the vent to the caudal only thirty-six or thirty-seven : head larger ; the 

 crown nearly flat, without any elevated ridge ; the profile passing off 

 almost in a straight line to the mouth, with very little sinuosity : snout 

 every-way larger; longer, and, measured vertically, nearly as broad as 

 the head; very much compressed: spinous process before the eyes 

 smoother, and less projecting : head, including the snout, rather more 

 than one-sixth of the entire length : opercle much larger : dorsal placed 

 further back, being exactly in the middle of the entire length : anal very 

 minute : caudal and pectorals similar. 



D. 39; A. 3; C. 10; P. 15. 



{Colours.) "Varying from greenish olive, to olivaceous yellow, and 

 brown, variegated sometimes with dark or bluish lines." DON. 



* See on this subject Proceed, of Zool. Soc. (1834.) p. 118, 

 t Wern. Mm. vol. i. p, 86. 



