LOFHOBRANCHIATES. £29 



wanting. There is a peculiarity in the generation of these fishes, whose 

 ova slip into a pouch formed hy an inflation of the skin, and are hatched 

 there; this pouch, in some, is situated under the belly, and in others un- 

 der the base of the tail; it splits spontaneously for the passage of the 

 fry. 



Syngnathus, properly so called, vulgarly designated, also, Sea-Eels, 



Have an extremely elongated and very thin body, differing but little in 

 diameter throughout its whole length. Several species are found in the 

 seas of Europe. 



Some of them, besides their ventrals, have a dorsal, a caudal, and an 

 anal*. 



In others the anal only is wanting -j-. In these two groups the pouch 

 is situated under the tail. 



Others again have neither anal nor pectorals, but are "provided with a 

 dorsal and caudal; their ovarian pouch is under the belly £. 



A fourth kind are deprived of every fin but the dorsal §. 



Hippocampus, Cuv. 



The Hippocamps, vulgarly called Sea-Horses, have the trunk laterally 



compressed, and considerably more elevated than the tail; by curving 



after death the head and body assume some resemblance to the head and 



neck of a horse in miniature. The junctions of their scales are raised 



into ridges, and their salient angles into spines. The tail is without fins. 



One species is found in the seas of Europe with a short snout, 



Hipp, brerirostris, Cuv., Will. pi. J, 25, fig. 3; and another with a 



longer snout, Hipp, guttulatus, Cuv., Will. J, 25, f. 5, both of which 



have only a few filaments on the snout and body. There are others 



closely allied to these in the Indian Ocean ||. 



New Holland produces a larger one, which, from the leaf-like ap- 

 pendages that decorate various parts of its body, presents a most 

 singular appearance: it is the Syngnathus foliatus, Shaw, Gen. Zool. 

 V, ii, pi. 180; Lacep., Ann. du Mus. IV r , pi. 58, f. 3. The 



Solenostomus^[, Seb. and Lacep. 



This genus differs from Syngnathus in being furnished with very large 

 ventrals behind the pectorals, united with each other and with the trunk, 

 that form a kind of apron, which, like the pouch of the Syngnathi, serves 



* Syngnathus typhle, L., Bl. 91, 1 ;— Syng. acus, L., Bl. 91, 2. 



t Syng. pelagicus, Risso, p. C3; — Syng. Rondelelii, Laroche, Ann. Mus. XIII, 5, 

 5, viridis, Risso, 65, Rondel, 229, 1; — S. barbarus, Penn., Brit. Zool., or rubescens, 

 Risso. 



X Syng. cequoreus, L., Montag., Werner. Soc. I, 4, f. 1. 



§ Syng. ophidian, L., Bl. 91j- 3; — Syng. papacinus, Risso, IV, 7; — Syng. fascialus, 

 Id., lb. 8. 



|| Syng. longiroslris, Cuv., Will. J, 25, f. 4, and other species to be described in 

 our Ichthyology. 



^f Solenostomus, mouth like a tube, from solen, tube, and stoma, mouth. 



