THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN OF FISHES. 181 



to take repose curled up in oyster-shells. With 

 the modification of the tail, the anterior part of 

 the body undergoes a decided alteration, and is 

 modelled into a rather slender and arched neck, 

 so that the head, instead of being in a line with 

 the body, forms an angle with it — the snout 

 projecting horizontally forward. The contour 

 and mutual position of the head and body offer, 

 as Cuvier says, a resemblance in miniature to 

 the head, neck, and chest of the horse, and 

 hence the name of hippocampus, oi- sea-horse,* 

 which, -vvith a classical allusion, he applied to 

 this genus. Thus, then, in every class of 

 vertebrated animals, excepting birds, we are 

 presented with examples in which the extreme 

 portion of the vertebral column is modified as 

 a grasping organ, and either acts by way of 

 aiding the hands or paws, or becomes a substi- 

 tute for those organs, surprising us by its 

 strong power of prehension, and its endowments 

 as an organ of touch. 



So far, then, have we pointed out the leading 

 and characteristic modifications of the vertebral 



* Hippocampus, from '.Vffot (Ai;jpos,) a horse— KaiiTTii (campe,) 

 a flexure. This name was given by the ancients to imaginary 

 sea-horses, figured as drawing the cliariot of Neptune. The 

 anterior parts were those of a horse ; the liinder parts were fish- 

 like, and wreathed in folds or flexures. 



