ITS INTELLIGENCE. 181 



little Pipe-fish presents in the prehensile character of 

 its tail. It curves just the tip of this organ laterally- 

 round the stem or frond of some sea-weed, and holds 

 on by this half-inch or so, while the rest of its body 

 roves to and fro, elevating and depressing the head 

 and foreparts, and throwing the body into the most 

 graceful curves. The immediateness, with which the 

 prehensile action followed contact of the part with 

 any object, reminded me of what I have observed in 

 the tails of the American Monkeys, in which the 

 slightest and most accidental touch of the tail-tip 

 instantly excites the grasping action. Perhaps it is 

 in a measure involuntary. 



Al] the motions of the Pipe-fish manifest much 

 intelligence. It is a timid little thing, retiring from 

 the side of the glass at which it had been lying, when 

 one approaches, and hiding under the shadow of the 

 sea-weeds, which I have put in both to afi'ord it shel 

 ter, and also to supply food in the numerous animal- 

 cules that inhabit these marine plants. Then it 

 cautiously glides among their bushy fronds, and from 

 under their shelter peeps with its brilliant eyes at the 

 intruder, as if wondering what he can be, drawing 

 back gently on any alarming motion. It was only 

 by taking my opportunity, presenting my pocket lens, 

 and approaching my face to the side of the glass very 

 slowly and cautiously, that I could examine it suffi- 

 ciently for the purposes of delineation and de- 

 scription. 



In swimming it is constantly throwing its body 

 into elegant contortions and undulations: often it 

 hangs nearly perpendicular, with the tail near the sur- 



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