OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 179 



the vase close at hand. On seeking for the cause, the sound 

 was found to proceed from the mouths of the little Hippocampi, 

 which were thus conversing with, or signalling to, one another. 

 The noise observed was produced by the muscular closing 

 and sudden expansion of the lower jaw, and much re- 

 sembled in strength and tone the snapping sound produced 

 for a similar purpose, but in this instance with its claw, by 

 the little scarlet Prawn (Alpheus ruber\ found in the 

 Channel Islands. A difficulty in keeping Sea-Horses is 



FIG. 24. EXOTIC SEA-HORSE (Phyllopteryx eques). 



usually presented in connection with their food supply, 

 they subsisting naturally on small Crustacea, such as Sand- 

 hoppers (Gammarus\ and the Opossum Shrimp (My sis). 

 Such supply failing in Manchester, the writer improvised 

 a successful substitute in the form of the larvae of the 

 common gnat (Culex pipiens), and other water insects. A 

 much larger type, obtained in the Mediterranean, and often 

 exhibited in aquaria, is the Branched Sea- Horse (Hip- 

 pocampus ramolosus), ornamented about the head and neck 

 with long filamentous processes that may be likened to 



N 2 



