238 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE HABITS OF THE PIPE-FISH, [June 1 1, 



pit is large, subtrigonal, and not quite so deep as it is wide, rounded 

 at the base. 



The skull of the female is rather larger, and belongs to an adult 

 animal, with all the grinders well developed. In this skull the pit is 

 oblong, not so broad as long, and very much deeper (I should say, 

 nearly twice as deep), and has a large aperture at the hinder part of 

 its base, evidently for the transmission of some vessel, which is not 

 to be seen in the skull of the male. 



The male skull has short canines, not produced beyond the sur- 

 face of the bone ; the female has the holes of smaller canines which 

 have fallen out. 



P.S. — Dr. Schlegel, the Director of the Leyden Museum, has, in 

 reply to an application from me, sent me this day (July 11, 1861) 

 the following note on the specimen of C. sika in the Leyden col- 

 lection : — "If you mean by the anal disk the whitish or yellowish 

 disk which extends in the Common or Canada Stag above the tail, 

 the Japanese Stag decidedly shows nothing of this kind. In this 

 species the white colour is restrained to the abdomen, the inside of 

 the thighs, the anal region, and the greater end part of the tail ; the 

 root of the tail is, on the contrary, of the same brown colour as the 

 whole back and the rest of the animal." 



It is probable, therefore, that the Japanese Deer described by me 

 as Rusa japonica may be the same as the Cerviis sika, though it dif- 

 fers so much from the figure and short description of that animal in 

 the 'Faima Japonica.' 



2. On the Habits of the Pipe-fish and other Fishes. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.K.S., V.P.Z.S., etc. 



In examining the tanks in the Zoological Gardens, I was struck 

 with the habits of the Pipe-fish, and induced to take a few notes. 

 There are three species now exhibited there. 



They swim with facility, but not very rapidly, and they seem to 

 move chiefly by the action of the dorsal and pectoral fins. The former 

 is fully expanded when they move and in very rapid motion, the action 

 being a kind of wave, commenchig at the front end and continued 

 through its whole length, continually repeated, so as to form a kind 

 of screw propeller. The tail seems to be used rather as a foot than 

 as an organ of propulsion ; and the specimen that is furnished with a 

 rayed tail expands the rays when it uses this part, giving the end 

 of the tail the appearance of a webbed foot. 



They remain in a quiescent state in different positions, sometimes 

 horizontal, at others pendent, but generally more or less ascending 

 from the place on which the tail rests ; sometimes even nearly in a 

 perpendicular position, merely resting on the tip of the tail : at these 

 times the fins are generally at rest. 



I saw one specimen of the Serpent Pipe-fish with a simple acute 

 tail, which was resting in an erect perpendicular position with the tail 



