LOPHOBRANCIIII. 17 



17. Hippocampus histrix, Kp. 



Diagn. — The thin, elongated snout, much longer than the head; 

 a long spine over the nostril, and all the spines unwontedly 

 developed and pointed except on the end of the tail. 



Descr. — This species is still more than the last one distin- 

 guished from all its fellows, its peculiar characters being its elon- 

 gated snout and projecting spines. In the Paris Museum there 

 is a male, but its egg-pouches are not much developed. The 

 median ventral line is acute-edged like a knife, and sharply 

 emarginated between the rings. A female in the Leyden Mu- 

 seum is larger, and, like the males, has longer spines on the 1st, 

 4th, 7th and 11th body-rings, and on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th and 

 11th tail-rings. This one is from Japan. Its colour is uniform 

 whitish-yellow. In neither individual are all the fins preserved 

 entire. Japan. 



18. Hippocampus abdominalis, Less. 

 Hippocampus abdominalis, Lesson, Ferussac, Bull, de Sc. xi. 127. 



Diagn. — Body of 12 rings, rarely of 13. The irregularly 

 speckled dorsal of from 24 to 26 rays, standing on 5 or 6 

 rings. Belly very protuberant, having a height equal to 

 the length of the last 8 or 9 body-rings. 



Descr. — This fish departs from the general form of the 

 genus, no less than the preceding two, in having an acute-edged, 

 very prominent belly, and is a very distinct species, common in 

 Australia. It is often thrice as high as it is broad. Its short 

 snout is as long as the distance between the fore-border of the 

 orbits to the spine of the gill-plate. In a male, whose head is 

 figured, all the spines and protuberances on the body are blunt. 

 Forty-seven tail-rings. The filamentous appendages on the 

 head are simple, or branched like a stag's horn, or altogether 

 wanting. 



Colour yellowish, with black specks and stripes on the head. 

 Upon the ribs the skin is yellowish, and between them blackish- 

 brown or yellowish speckled with black. Tail barred across 

 with yellow. Egg-pouch short, and extending merely to the 

 5th or 7th tail-ring. A male brought from the west coast of 

 Africa is black, and there are also black varieties from Au- 

 stralia. 



The British Museum possesses twenty-one specimens, pre- 

 sented by Sir John Richardson, Dr. Hooker, and Mr. Gunn. 

 There are also very many in the Paris Museum, obtained by 

 M. Verreaux on the voyage of the Zelee, &c. 



