Mar. 9, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEV^S. 



227 



iiatutal ^imovn* 



PHYLLOPTERYX. 



Of the whole family of Pipe-fish (Syngnathida:) few are 

 more extraordinary in appearance than those belonging 

 to the genus Phyllopfciyx. Several species of the familj' 

 are provided with short cutaneous appendages, disposed 

 more or less symmetrically about their bodies, but in no 

 case are they developed to such an extent as in the 

 species which may be referred to this genus Phylloplciyx 

 (Kaufs). The first of these curious pipe-fish was fully 

 described and sketched by Shaw (Zool. v. pi. iSo), who 

 called it Syngiiathiis foliatus. Lacepede, in the same 

 year, also mentions this species, which he calls S. Taeniop- 



each ring armed with spines, those of the three or four 

 largest rings being furnished with long ribbon-like 

 appendages. The tail was fo\ir-sided, the under side 

 the widest and comparatively flat, the other three con- 

 cave ; the caudal rings were about forty-five in number, 

 and all bore spines, most of which had filaments like 

 those on the body. The dorsal fin was 26-rayed. The 

 dried fish was black above, pale-coloured beneath ; on 

 each side of the body there were three distinct black 

 spots, and on the under side of the base of the tail 

 several distinct black cross bars. A third species, of 

 which we give an illustration, was presented to the 

 British Museum in 1865 by Mr. George French Angas, 

 who received it from Port Lincoln, South Australia. 

 This was named Phyllopteryx eqiies by Dr. Albert 

 Gilnther, who contributed the following description of 



PHvi.Loi'rrcRvx Kuri:s (di 



tents. As, however, Shaw's work was written some time 

 before the memoir of the latter author, the first of these 

 names lays claim to priority and is generally accepted. 

 The British Museum (Natural History Collection, South 

 Kensington) has a fine specimen of this P. foUata from 

 Tasmania, 135 inches long, and in the collection of 

 drawings made by Ferdinand Bauer, Dr. Brown's com- 

 panion during Capt. Flinder's voyage, there is a finely 

 coloured sketch of another specimen. The second species 

 was described by Dr. Grey in 1859 as Haliichthys 

 Taeniophora. It was in a collection made by the medical 

 officers of H.M.S. "Herald," having been found in 

 Freycinet harbour. Shark's Bay, W. Australia. Its head 

 was compressed with a high-arched central ridge armed 

 with spines, and with protruding eyes with large curved 

 spines on the upper edge of the eyebrows, its body six- 

 sided, covered with scales forming about nineteen rings, 



it to the journal of the Zoological Society in the same 

 year : — " Spines, crest, and cutaneous appendages 

 strongly developed, and trunk elevated into an upper 

 and three lower prominences. The snout bears a pair 

 of small spines behind the edge of its upper margin, a pair 

 of minute barbels at the chin, and a pair of long appendages 

 in the middle of its lower part. The forehead bears an 

 erect, broad crest, and a cluster of spines with narrow 

 appendages on the occiput. Nape of the neck with a 

 long spine dilated at the base into a crest and carrying 

 a long bifid appendage. The trunk is strongly arched 

 on the back, and has two deep indentations on its lower 

 profile. The tail is quadrangular with sharp edges, and 

 with five pairs of band-bearing spines along its upper 

 edge. Dorsal fin is entirely on the tail. The colour 

 is probably red in life." There is no pouch developed 

 in this species, as in some of the pipe-fishes, the ova 



