1.75 



ORDER V. LOPHOBRANCHIATI.* 



IN all the preceding Orders, the gills consist of 

 a great number of thin and narrow plates, arranged 

 in rows like the teeth of a comb ; but here they are 

 divided into small round tufts, arranged in pairs 

 along the gill arches ; the gill-cover, which is large 

 and hard, is so fastened down as to leave only a 

 small aperture. The Order is also distinguished 

 by the slenderness of the body, and by the singularly 

 sculptured plates in which they are enclosed, which 

 by their regularity give these fishes an angular shape. 



Syngnathus^ the Pipe-fish. 



The most prominent character of this curious 

 genus is, that the .jaws are united together, and 

 produced into a lengthened tube, which being turned 

 up at the end causes the mouth to open vertically ; 

 the ventrals are wanting; the body covered with 

 hard plates arranged in parallel lines. These sin- 

 gular fishes, of which Mr. Yarrell recognises five 

 species as British, have a peculiarity in the economy 

 of their reproduction, which cannot^but strongly re- 



* Aa<poj, lopfios, a tuft, and fi/>d'y%iei, branched^ gills, 

 f 2yv, syn, together, and yva^aj, gnathos, the jaw. 



