OSSEOUS FISHES. 607 



Among the acanthopterygeous fishes we shall only notice the 

 singular family of Fistulariadte, or Pipe-fishes, so called from the 

 extreme elongation of the fore part of the head, forming a tube, at the 

 extremity of which is the mouth. Of this family, Fistularia tabacaria 

 (Fig. 396) may he considered the type. The tube of the muzzle is 



Fig. 396. The 1'ipe-fish (Fistularia tabacaria). 



long and flat, and from the caudal fin springs a terminal filament 

 nearly as long as the body. This species of pipe-fish is common at 

 the Antilles ; it attains the length of about three feet, but its flesh is 

 leathery and insipid. It feeds upon crustaceans and small fishes, 

 which it drags from the interstices of the rocks and stones by means 

 of its long and taper pipe. 



We close our abbreviated history of the Ocean and such of the in- 

 habitants with which it swarms as seems most likely, from their 

 habits and other peculiarities, to interest the readers, conscious of its 

 many imperfections. Where every creature which moves and breathes 

 in the watery world is so full of interest, it will not surprise the 

 reader to learn that one of the editor's chief difficulties has been that 

 of selection, his most painful task that of rejecting the vast mass of 

 interesting matter he had necessarily to pass in review. 



We have shown in the first chapter of this work that nearly three- 

 fourths of the surface of the earth is bathed by the sea. Struck with 



