66 NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Syngnatlius cdgeriemis is a fresh-water species from Algiers. The Sijngiiathus specifer was 

 obtained by the Livingstone Expedition from the Rovuma River, and the Syngnathus martensii 

 is found in fresh water in Borneo. The genus Ichthyocampus is characteristic of the Indian and 

 China Seas, the genus Nannocampus is from Australia, and the genus Urocampus from Manchuria. 

 Doryichthys is a genus with twenty species from tropical seas, some of which are taken in fresh 

 water, like the Doryichthys mento from Celebes, and the Doryichthys caudatus from the island of 

 Samar. Doryichthys pleurostictus is from the fresh waters in the island of Luzon in the Philip- 

 pines. Cselonotus is a genus from the Indian Ocean, with one species entering fresh waters. 

 Stigmatophora is from the Australian Seas. Nerophis is eminently a European genus, though one of 

 its seven species is from Bombay, and another from Bogota. Nerophis teres is from the Crimea, but 

 Nerophis lumbriciformis, Nerophis ophidion, and Nerophis wqtwmis are all British forms, ranging to the 

 northern seas of Europe, though the last-named is also recorded from New Orleans. Nerophis has a 

 smooth rounded body, with scarcely any traces of the ridges so characteristic of Pipe-fishes, and, as 

 already remarked, the pectoral fin is absent, the caudal fin a mere rudiment, while the tail tapers to a, 

 point, and there are no lateral folds on the abdomen to protect the eggs, which are nevertheless 

 carried by the male; and the anal fin is wanting. 



The Ocean Pipe-fish (Nerophis wquoreus) is often seen by fishermen from thirty to fifty miles from 

 land, but it has been observed to spawn in June and July in Dingle Harbour. The species clings by 

 its tail to the tufts of Zostera marina, and in calm weather specimens may be seen side by side, and 

 in this position the eggs are transferred from, the female to the male. Couch mentions a female 

 thrown on shore in a storm, which measured twenty-two inches long and an inch in depth, and a male 

 twenty-six inches long. The upper part of the sides and tail are of a light reddish-brown, and the 

 head and belly golden yellow. A specimen kept in the vivarium of the Scarborough Museum passed 

 most of its time on a branch of Lawrencia pennatifidia. When dead it was found with its head 

 uppermost, in the same position as in life. Couch says that this species often abounds in incalculable 

 numbers in the open sea, and that the stomachs of other fishes like the Pollack are found gorged with 

 them. The male has a hemispherical depression on the abdomen in front of the vent, and in this 

 hollow the eggs are attached. They are not easily detached, and the skin rises round each like a cup. 



The Worm Pipe-fish (Nerophis lumbriciformis} does not exceed a length of five inches. 

 Professor Fries records that when first hatched this species possesses pectoral fins, and there is a fin- 

 like membrane at the tail which extends up the abdomen to the vent, as well as along the back. All 

 these fins, except the portion which becomes developed into a dorsal fin, are afterwards cast off like 

 the tail from the tadpole. 



The group of Pipe-fishes, popularly called Sea-horses, usually have filaments attached to various 

 parts of the body, and have the head set on to the trunk at an angle which suggests the comparison 

 with the horse. The body is deeper and shorter than in the typical Pipe-fishes, and is encased in a, 

 succession of shields forming rings of jointed armour round the body, which ai*e distinctly marked. 

 The males similarly carry the eggs. The genera Gastrotokeus and Solenognathus occur in the 

 Australian Seas, and range north to China. The genus Acentronura is only known from Japan. 

 Phyllopteryx, an Australian genus with three species, is one of the most wonderful of fishes 

 in appearance ; for, as the name implies, it has very much the aspect of a moving plant. The 

 body is usually compressed, and the snout is long. Dr. Giinther, who has described the 

 Phyllopteryx eques, gives the following account of the spines and filaments which cover it:- 

 " There is a pair of small spines behind the middle of the upper edge of the snout, a pair of 

 minute barbels at the chin, and a pair of long appendages in the middle of the lower part of 

 the head. The forehead bears a broad, erect, somewhat four-sided crest, behind which there is a 

 Eingle shorter spine. A horizontal spine extends above each orbit. There is a cluster of spines on 

 the occiput, and from these narrow appendages are prolonged. On the nape of the neck is a long 

 spine, dilated at the base into a crest, and carrying a long forked appendage. The back is arched, and 

 on the under side are two deep indentations. The spines on the ridges of the shields are the 

 strongest ; they are compressed, are not flexible, and each terminates in a pair of short points. 

 There is one pair of these spines in the middle of the back, and one on each of the three prominences 

 of the abdominal outline; they terminate in flaps, which are long and forked. There are also very 



