PIPE-FISHES 



239 



amongst which they dwell as to pass un- 

 noticed by their enemies. Unlike the Tube- 

 mouths, just described, the care of the eggs 

 and young devolves upon the males. The 

 young are borne in a pouch, but, ventral 

 fins being wanting, this is formed by a fold 

 of skin developed from each side of the 

 trunk and tail, the free margins being 

 united in the middle line. Here the eggs 

 remain till they are hatched. But the 

 pouch is by no means done with after this 

 event, for the young continue to occupy 

 it for some time, returning when danger 

 threatens a habit which recalls the custom 

 of the young of the kangaroo. Mr. Yarrell 

 relates a curious fact which he gleaned from 

 some fishermen to wit, that if they take a 

 pipe-fish, open the pouch, and drop the young into the sea, they will not disperse, but hover 

 around the spot, as if waiting for their parent. Then, if the newly opened fish be held in the 

 water, the young immediately return and enter the pouch. In another species of pipe-fish 

 the eggs, instead of being carried in a pouch, are held by a sticky secretion to a groove 

 in the under surface of the parent. This groove would seem to indicate the beginning 

 from which the complete pouch has been developed. The pipe-fishes swim in a very 

 peculiar manner, holding the body now in a vertical, and now in a horizontal position, 

 accompanied by contortions of every conceivable kind, poking their long snouts into bunches 

 of seaweed in search of food as they go. 



Ptiits ky A. S. Rudland &> Sent 



BLACK-SPOTTED GLOBE-FISH 



Globe-fishes possess the potvcr of Inflating the body iv'tth air, 'when 

 they float at the surface, and thus escape enemies 



Phtte by N. 



TRIGGER-FISH 



A ivell-knoivn member of the File-fishes 



