70 LOPHOBRANCHII. 



Diagn. — Length of the snout equal to the height of the hind- 

 head. A yellowish streak passing from the orbit over the 

 marbled gill-cover. A yellowish stripe also from beneath 

 the eye to the under part of the snout. 



Descr. — This species is proportionally shorter than annulatus, 

 and its snout is more compressed towards its extremity. It has 

 18 or 19 body-rings and 48 or 50 caudal rings. The dorsal fin 

 having 26 rays stands on 7 rings, of which two belong to the 

 body. The head forms one-eleventh or one-twelfth part of the 

 length of the body. Colour dark olive-green, with lighter spots 

 on the head and back. Eggs disposed in four rows on the males. 

 Professor Fries observed in the year 1 837 that very young mem- 

 bers of this species possessed pectoral fins, and that the tail is 

 encompassed by a fin-like membrane. Except the portion re- 

 quired in the construction of the permanent dorsal, this mem- 

 brane is cast off at a later period in a way similar to that in which 

 the tadpoles lose their tails. This process should be considered 

 in connexion with the structure of N. hymenolomus, which, as 

 has been already remarked, retains the cutaneous appendage 

 during its life. Lumbriciformis is common on the English coast, 

 and apparently also in the North Sea, on the German shores. A 

 female specimen from China, belonging to the British Museum, 

 exhibits no difference whatever from the European examples. 



8. Nerophis ophidion, Bona p. 



Syngnathus ophidion, Linn. Syst. i. sp. 417. no. 5 ; Faun. Suec. 

 p. 131. sp. 1. 



Eckstrom, die Fische von Mbrko, t. 6. f. 3,4. 

 Yarr. Brit. Fishes, p. 447, a figure. 

 Worm Pipe-fish, Jenyns. Brit. Verteb. p. 488. 

 Syngnathus ophidion, Fries, Wiegm. Arch. 1838, p. 248. t. G. f. 4. 

 Nerophis ophidion, Bonap. Cat. Meth. p. 91. 



Diagn. — The straight, acutely crested snout is as long as the 

 distance between the hinder edge of the orbit and the ex- 

 tremity of the gili-cover. It is as high as the hind-head, 

 and is acutely ridged on its under part. 



Descr. — This species is one of the slenderest, and in many 

 points differs from the preceding ones. Traces of prominent 

 lines on the compressed body and sharply-ridged belly render it 

 heptangular. The body consists of from 29 to 31 rings, the tail 

 of about (iO rings. The dorsal fin having from 34 to 38 rays 

 stands on 10 or 11 rings, of which three belong to the body. In 



