242 LOPHOBRANCnir. 



lines from snout; occupies or extends for 8 lines; vent 1 inch 10 lines 

 from snout. 



I extract the following note from the Proc. Zool. Society for 1837, to 

 which it was contributed by me : — 



" Si/}iffnafhus lumhriciformis, Jenyns ? Yarrell. As it has recently been dis- 

 covered that two species of Syngnathi have hitherto been confounded under the 

 name of S. Ophidion, it should be stated that those which I brought under the 

 notice of this Society on June 9, 1835, as taken in Strangford Lough, are iden- 

 tical with the S. lumbriciformis, as described by Mr. Yarrell (Brit. Fish. vol. ii. 

 p. 340). It may be added, that from Dr. Ball I have since received nine speci- 

 mens which were taken by him in Jime, 1835, at the South Islands of Arran, off 

 Galway, and from Captain Fayrer, R. N., several, likewise caught in the same 

 month at Donagliadee. 



"The dorsal tin and vent in all these specimens, including one from Belfast 

 Bay, 19 in number, which are from under 3 to 6 inches long, about one-third of the 

 entire length from the snout, and the head occupying about one-twelfth of the 

 whole length. In these characters they correspond with Mr. Yarrell's descrip- 

 tion. Mr. Jenyns describes the ' dorsal and vent at about the middle of the 

 entire length,' and the head 'scarcely one-seventeenth ' of it.* Some of them 

 exhibit ova ' in hemispherical depressions, on the external surface of the abdo- 

 men, anterior to the vent,' as mentioned in the Manual of the British Verte- 

 brata, p. 489." 



To this may be added, that specimens have since been taken in the 

 dredge used in deep water, in Belfast and Strangford Loughs, and also at 

 Lame ; have been found on the shore of Tory Island (Donegal), by Mr. 

 G. C. Hyndman ; were obtained by ourselves, in July, 1840, at Round- 

 stone, on the Galway coast, and at Lahinch (County of Clare), under 

 stones between tide-marks ; and specimens taken at Youghal and at 

 Courtmasherry (County of Cork), by Dr. Ball and by Professor Allman, 

 have come under my notice. It has been taken at all seasons of the year. 



This and S. Acus are by far the most common — indeed are the only 

 species to which the term common can be applied — pipe-fish on the Irish 

 coast. <S'. hwibric. seems to be the most littoral species, which may per- 

 haps account for my having seen even more of it than of S. Acus. 



Temjiktoti, in his Catalogue, gives S. harbartis ; but I do not know to 

 what species he referred. By S. OjMdion he probably meant the S. 

 hmibriciformis.^ 



The Sho'rt-nosed Hippocampus, or Sea-Horse, Hijipocampus 

 brerirostris, Cuv., 

 Has been obtained in Dublin Bay, and probably in other localities. 



In 1849, Robert Callwell, Esq., of Dublin, lent me for examination a 

 specimen of this fish, which he had procured, quite fresh, in June, 1843, 

 when walking on the North Bull. It had just been picked up on the 

 beach by a little boy who put no value on it. 



Examples of the genus Hipjyocampus had been previously taken, as 

 mentioned in the following notes. Some of these captures I recorded in 

 the Zool. Proc. for 1837, and the Annals Nat. Hist. vol. ii., but as none 

 of the fishes had been preserved the species was not ascertained. 



" Hippocampus brevirostris, Cuv. ? Sea-horse. — In July, 1 821, a recent speci- 

 men of Hippocampus, presumed to be this species, was found on the beach at Red 

 Bay, County of Antrim, by William Ogilby, Esq., F.L.S."— Zool. Proc. 1837. 



* This has since been shown by Mr. Jenyns to be a different species, 

 t Taken in dredging in the river Liffey by Dr. Ball. 



