360 SNAKE PIPEFISH. 



loosely from the vent a membranous tube, an inch and three 

 fourths in length, of which I suppose the use to be the 

 distribution of the grains of spawn. 



Allowing for a considerable difference of size, there is con- 

 siderable likeness between the Ocean Pipefish and the present 

 species ; and yet even at first sight they are readily distinguished ; 

 since the compressed form of the former is very different from 

 the rounded shape of the body of the latter. The presence or 

 absence of a very small tail is less to be depended on, as I 

 have known it absent, perhaps broken off, in the Ocean Pipe- 

 fish, but the presence of a thin membrane, more or less broad, 

 is a conspicuous feature in the last-named fish; and their 

 relative proportions are very different. In the Ocean Pipefish 

 the middle of the length is at the first fourth portion of the 

 dorsal fin, and considerably in advance of the vent; while in 

 the Snake Pipefish the middle of the length is more than the 

 same proportion behind the vent. From the vent to the slender 

 extremity is about one portion and a half of the distance from 

 the vent to the snout. The origin of the dorsal fin is at 

 one third of the whole length, and the middle of the body is 

 behind the whole of this fin. The colour of this fish is a pale 

 yellow, with sometimes a pink line from the eye to the snout. 



