LOl'HOBRANCIIII. 



I have seen only the dried specimen in the Paris Museum. 

 which was sent from Java by Leschenault. I believe that the 

 male has the longer snout, and that the figured specimens are 

 females. Bloch'a engraving is not consonant with nature. 



3. Pegasus Draco, Linn. 



Pegasus Draco, Block, t. 109. f. 1, 2. 



Gronoo. Zoophyl. 12. f. 23. 

 Cataphractus Draco, Gronov. Cat. 



Diagn. — Quadrilateral, with deep four-angled dorsal pits bor- 

 dered with round knobs, and formed by the junction of 

 round transverse eminences with the longitudinal ones of 

 the back*. 



Descr. — This species is more scarce in collections than the 

 preceding ones, and seems to vary in its spotting in the males. 

 In Bloch's figure the lateral leaf-like appendages of the snout 

 appear to be oval ; according to others these processes form a 

 circular disk. The figure in the Zoophyllacium has the snout 

 fashioned more like that of the preceding ones, and shows late- 

 rally a projecting edge. 



No question has been made of Linnaeus having been acquainted 

 with P. Draco and nutans, but some doubt may be entertained 

 whether he distinguished the laternarius of Cuvier. Sir John 

 Richardson gives two figures under the names of volans and nu- 

 tans, without specifically separating them. Schneider, in his 

 Sy sterna, p. 155, cites the volans of Renard, t. 35. f. 1(52 (not 

 102), giving to it the following character: — " Rostro ensiformi 

 longitudine thoracis, pellucido, utrinque retrorsum serrato,'' 

 which agrees with nutans, but not with laternarius. 



Fam. 3. Syngnathidse, Kp., Bon. 



Diagn, — The small gill-opening very narrow, circular, and 

 placed high up at the extremity of the gill-plate, close to the 

 compressed occiput. A hinder back-fin only situated near 

 the anus. 



Descr, — Form more elongated, with or without pectorals : 



* These pits with denticulated edges are best represented by th 

 figure which Gronovius gives in his Zoophyllacium, which moreove 

 exhibits no leaf-iike appendages on the snout. 



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