12 LOPHOBRAXCHII. 



In all other respects it resembles other individuals obtained in 

 the same locality. We also find individuals of H. guttulatus 

 with a larger snout and one more body-ring. I think, therefore, 

 that a slightly longer snout, or a body somewhat higher or lower, 

 or furnished with one ring more or one less, are not sufficient of 

 themselves for the separation of species. By attending to such 

 signs, we should be obliged to divide the H. abdominalis of 

 Lesson into many species. 



In the Leyden collection there are five examples from Timor 

 and Sumatra which have rows of white spots on the gill-plates ; 

 the body being brown or black with white points. Individuals 

 in the collections of Paris, Leyden and Vienna exhibit black 

 marbled speckling on the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th body -rings 

 and on the base of the back fin. 



In some the skin is dark brown or black, ornamented with a 

 white network ; in others the colour is paler, and each ring has 

 a black speck on its dorsal angle. In a female specimen col- 

 lected by Quoy and Gaimard, cutaneous appendages exist on the 

 spines of the back and tail ; others exhibit small warts on the 

 middle dorsal line. 



On a comparison of all the Indian species, viz. H. japonicus, 

 H. Monikei, H. comes, H. mannulus, H. coronatus and H. histrix 

 with one another, this one was easily distinguished from japo- 

 nicus or Monikei by its greater size, since none of them exceed 

 the smaller individuals of brevirostris. From mannulus it may 

 be discriminated by the want of the incurved spur-like spines of 

 the breast-ring. Coronatus is known by its coronet being raised 

 on a high pedestal, and histrix by its long, thin, sharp-pointed 

 spines. 



Though no difficulty occurs in distinguishing H. comes from 

 the other Indian species, it is hardly to be recognized as separate 

 from the South American H. longirostris. 



8. Hippocampus longirostris, Cuv. 



Hippocampus longirostris, Cuv. R. A. ii. 363. 



Diagn. — The coronet set with blunt tubercles, of which the 

 foremost is connected with the basal piece of the occiput. 

 The upper orbital spine short and two-cornered. 



Descr. — Length of the snout from the proximal border of 

 the orbit as great as the distance from thence to the edge of the 

 breast-ring. In the young there is a nasal projection which dis- 

 appears with age. The spines on all the rings also are promi- 

 nent in the young, and become blunt in the old. The species 



