THE FISHES OF THE IRISH SEA. 57 



the Liverpool Free Public Museum, from New Brighton, at the mouth of the Mersey. We 

 have it also from Piel in the Barrow channel, and it is occasionally taken in Port Erin bay. 

 We get it at times in the Lancashire estuaries, and along the banks in shrimp nets. 



NEROPHIS AEQUOREUS (Linn.) Snake Pipe-fish. 

 (Day's British Fishes, vol. II., p. 261, PI. CXLIV., Fig. 4.) 



This little species is also called the "painted sea-adder." It ranges from the northern 

 seas down to the English Channel. 



Byerley records it from the Dee, and it is also taken at the Isle of Man. 



NEROPHIS OPHIDION (Linn.) Straight-nosed Pipe-fish. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. II., p. 262, PI. CXLIV., Fig. 5.) 

 Several times captured near Holyhead (Eyton). 



NEROPHIS LUMBRICIFORMIS (Yarrell) Worm Pipe-fish. 

 (Day's British Fishes, vol. II., p. 263, PI. CXLIV., Fig. 6.) 



(Fish. Mus., Zool. Dep., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) 



Holyhead, common (Eyton) ; Menai Straits (White) ; common, under stones at low- 

 water of spring tides, in Port Erin bay. 



HIPPOCAMPUS ANTIQUORUM, Leach Sea-horse. 

 (Day's Brit. Fishes, vol. II., p. 265, PI. CXLIV., Fig. 7.) 



This is a southern species, the British Islands being about its northern limit. It ranges 

 through the Mediterranean and Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and is also found at Japan and 

 Australia. 



It is rare in our northern seas, but has been recorded from Dublin Bay, Belfast Bay, 

 and other localities on the east coast of Ireland. 



E. PLECTOGNATHI. 



Body covered with bony plates and spines; gill opening very narrow; jaw bones united 

 so as to bound a very small mouth ; pelvic fins absent or spinulose. 



Family GYMNODONTES. 



ORTHAGORISCUS MOLA (Linn.) Sun-fish. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. II. p. 272, PL CXLVIII.) 



This is a pelagic fish ranging widely through temperate and tropical regions. It visits 

 our shores mostly in summer, and is commoner in the English Channel than further north, but 

 has been taken in the Clyde. It is recorded in the stock-books of the Liverpool Free Public 

 Museum as having been taken "off Southport" in 1864. 



ORTHAGORISCUS TRUNCATUS (Retz). Oblong 1 Sun-fish. 



This fish does not really belong to the British fauna, but it has been recorded by Day 

 from Pembroke and Swansea, in South Wales. 



