FAMILY SYNGNATHID^ — SYNGNATHUS. 319 



Section 2. LopiiOBRAXcmi. 



Gills in little round tufts, disposed in jyairs along the branchial arclics, instead of beirt^ 

 arranged in continuous scries like the teeth of a comb. 



This section constitutes Order V., which contains but one family in our waters. 



FAMILY SYNGNATHW.'E. 



Body inailcd ivjtk transvc7-sc angular plates. Opercle large ; branchial opening very small, 

 and formed by a membrane which only exhibits vestiges of rays. Dorsal single. Species 

 srnall. No cceca ; ivitli an air-bladder. 



Obs. a small group, containing about fifty species, chiefly from the seas of the tropical 

 and temperate regions. 



GENU'S SYNGNATHliS. Linncns, Cumer. 



Body elongated, slender, covered leith. a series of i?idurated plates parallel to each other. 

 Snout prolonged into a tube, ivith the mouth placed at the extremity. No ventral Jin. 

 Males with <i pouch for the reception of the female roc. 



THE BANDED PIPE-FISH. 



Syngnathcs pasciatus. 

 PLATE LIV. FIG. 171. —(STATE COLLECTION.) 

 Smaller Pipe-fish, Syiisnalhts lyphli: MiTCHiLL, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. V. \'oI. I, ii. 475. 



Characteristics. Ashen grey, with brownish transverse bars across the tail. Dorsal as high 

 as the depth of the body. Length six to ten inches. 



Description. Form irregularly four-sided posterior to the vent, the lower side being largest ; 

 anterior to the vent, the body is polygonal, and covered with horny plates. Above, the sur- 

 face of the back is depressed, and this is produced by the union of a scries of carinated plates, 

 which cause a ridge on each side. This ridge is minutely pectinated, and the plates them- 

 selves are vertically striate on the sides. Sides of the body vertical, and covered by a 

 series of carinated plates, which ascend at the vent, and unite at the termination of the dorsal 

 with the carinated plates on the back. Twenty-live of these plates were counted from the 

 opercle to the end of the dorsal. The abdomen is formed by three scries of carinated 



