44 DUBLIN NATUEAL HISTOKY SOCIETY. 



S. typhle are plentiful in Dingle Harbour in the spring and early months 

 of summer, frequenting stony ground abounding with algae, in depths of 

 four to six feet, where the development and protection of their ova can 

 be accomplished. I have frequently taken both species in states of spawn- 

 ing, the S. typhle with the young partially extricated from the ova, 

 freed from the sub-caudal pouch of the male, and actively swimming, 

 whilst other portions of the ova in the pouch were not matured. These 

 two species, having a true caudal fin, exercise it as a propeller, similarly 

 to other fishes, it jiot being prehensile, as in the other sections. The 

 manner of passing the ova to the marsupial bag of the male fish is sin- 

 gular. In shoal water, or a low tide, these fish may sometimes be seen 

 inpairs, side by side, apparently stationary on some rocky stone. At 

 this time the ova — the capsules but imperfectly matured — are liberated 

 from the female, and received into the abdominal sac of the male, the 

 male fi.sh having the power of expanding the lappings of the sac, and 

 attaching the ova by a highly viscid or glutinous secretion. In time, as 

 the process of maturation advances, the capsules of the ova enlarge, 

 forming hemispherical depressions in the sac, and eventually the pouch 

 is forced open by the full development of the ova and extrication of the 

 young. In the other species, the genus ISTerophis of the last edition of 

 Yarrell, and the Acestra of other authors, the male fish are destitute of 

 the abdominal or caudal pouch, and, unlike the last, have no or scarcely 

 any caudal fin, their long tapering tail enabling them to twine around 

 and cling to the stems of the larger algs. In Diugle Harbour the 8, 

 ceqtioreus may be met with very abundantly, in the summer months, 

 spawning in the months of June and July. This is the largest and most 

 beautiful of the species, the girth of the body being oval, of a long 

 tapering form to the tail, the colour of a beautiful fawn tinged with 

 orange, and marked with numerous pale yellow rings. The irides are 

 dark, tinged with yellow. In the female fish the abdomen is keeled, 

 in that of the male depressed. A similar process as to the transfer of 

 the ova takes place in the fish as described in the last, with the excep- 

 tiau that the males have no abdominal sac to enclose the ova. These 

 fish, under favourable opportimities of calmness and of tides, may be 

 seen side by side clinging with their tails to the tufts of Zostera marina, 

 in which position the male is enabled to attach to the abdomen the ova, 

 by the same influence of viscid secretion alluded to in the marsupial 

 species._ This kind of depression in the abdomen of the male is clearly 

 shown in the specimens of 8. lumlriciformis submitted to you, and in 

 which the ova, attached in three rows, are seen. The 8. anguimus and 

 8. opUdion are similar in habit to 8. cequoreus, frequenting the same 

 localities in the spawning seasons, and agreeing in other characters and 

 peculiarities, with exception that the larger species are sometimes found 

 in very deep water, at periods when not spawning. The 8. lumlrici- 

 formh\% more frequent in rocky pools under stones, and is the smallest 

 of British pipe-fishes. It is extensively distributed round our coasts, and 

 is remarkable for its beautiful markings, especially about the head, of 

 wavy bars, and with wliitc spots along the length of its body. The 



