DUBLIN NATURAL HISTOEY SOCIETY. 43 



Habits : According to Mr, Darragh's account, with whom the last- 

 quoted specimen lived for ten days, it was at first shy, but afterwards 

 became tamer, and fed readily. 



For the record of this interesting addition we are indebted to Mr. 

 William" Darragh, Curator of the Museum of the IS'atural History and 

 Philosophical Society of Belfast. He obtained it living from a man who 

 knocked it down with a fishing-rod in Blackstaif-lane, Belfast. Profes- 

 sor Gc. Dickie, on examination of it, pronounced it new to Ireland, and 

 a Scotophilus (J^octule). Circumstances prevented his bringing it for- 

 ward, and in the aulunm of 1859, when my attention was called to the 

 specimen hj Mr. Patterson, he kindly gave me his notes on the matter. 

 On my pointing out the characters of the bat to Mr. Darragh, he told 

 me of another specimen which had been obtained at Belvoir Park, and 

 which was in the possession of the family of the gamekeeper, by whom 

 it had been shot. Subsequently, he procured me this specimen, and 

 such particulars of its history as left no doubt of its having been actually 

 captured as stated. On a critical comparison, the specuuens were found 

 to be identical. In January, 1860, I compared my specimen with 

 Leach's original specimen in the British Museum, and found them the 

 same. The species seems to be a rare one everywhere, as, according to 

 the authorities, it is rare in museums. I need not dwell on the interest 

 of this addition to the Irish lists, and that so large a species should have 

 so long escaped notice, holds out hope that some of the other species still 

 wanting in our lists may yet turn up. 



William Andeews, Esq., President, read a paper — 



ON THE SYNGNATHIDiE, OE PIPE-FISH FAMILY. 



I regret that I was unable to be present at the meeting in December 

 last, at which Dr. Corrigan gave his observations "On some Structiu^al 

 Peculiarities in the Pipe-fishes" — observations that were of interest be- 

 cause so few have had the opportunity of examining the habits of these 

 singular fishes in the living state. The Syngnatliidse are most remark- 

 able in their structural characters, forming un order called Lophobranchii 

 from the singular character of the gills, which are not pectinated, nor in 

 equal lamince, but disposed in pairs, in small tufts, — a peculiarity not ex- 

 isting in other fishes. Their bodies are very slender, much tapering 

 towards the tail, almost destitute of flesh, and covered with plated scales ; 

 have a natatory bladder, and a tubular muzzle or snout formed like that 

 of Fistularidoe. In the British seas and on the coasts of Ireland we have 

 six species : — Two Marsupial fish, having true caudal fins, Syngnathus 

 acus, and S. tyj)lih ; four Ophidial, viz., 8. cBquoreus, and S. anguineus, 

 having each a rudimentary caudal fin; 8. opkidion, and S. lumhrici- 

 farmis, in which there is no caudal fin, the tail terminating in a fine 

 point. All these species are exceedingly common in the harbours and 

 estuaries of the south-west coast of Ireland ; and another of the Syng- 

 nathidce, Kippocampus hrevirostris, has been taken in Smerwick Har- 

 bour, coast of Kerry. Of the Marsupial species, Syngnathus acus and 



