7052 Fishes. 



While the bowsprit he shook in his terrible mouth. 

 ('Twas in Latitude East and in Longitude South,* 

 The ship making six knots— leaving foam in her wake, 

 Yet she stopped at the touch of this wonderful snake) ; 

 And the jibboom and bowsprit were snapped like a straw ; 

 But bis strength was outdone by his marpellous maw ; 

 For he swallowed the stay-sail and also the jib 

 Like a boy gulping oysters — they went down so glib. 

 With this stay to his stomach he turned him about, 

 And gave with his tail such a vigorous flout 

 That some timbers to atoms were crushed by the blow, 

 And what more might have happened we none of us know, 

 When an object appeared for the which he set sail. 

 And both object and story were much like a whale. 

 Guyon ; Ventnor, Isle of Wight. 



Note on the Piscivorous Propensities of the Common Carp. — A specimen of the 

 common carp, between five and six inches in length, was lately observed to devour 

 three small minnows, each of about an inch and a half in length, which were confined 

 in the same aquarium with him. One of these the carp seized immediately the 

 minnow was placed in the aquarium, and swallowed it whole, head foremost. This 

 habit of the carp is new to me, and may perhaps be vvorth recording. — /. H. Gurney ; 

 Catton, Norfolk, May 7, 1860. 



Note on the Syngnathidce or Pipe Fish Family. — The Syngnathidae are most 

 remarkable in their structural characters from all other fishes, forming an order, Lopho- 

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

 equal laminae, but disposed in pairs, in small tufts, a peculiarity not existing in other 

 fishes. Their bodies are very slender, much tapering towards the tail, almost destitute 

 of flesh, and covered with plated scales ; they have a natatory bladder, and a tubular 

 muzzle or snout, formed like that of Fistularida;. In the British seas and in the 

 coasts of Ireland we have six species : — two marsupial fish, having true caudal fins, 

 Syngnathus Acus and S. Typhle ; four ophidial, which contain S. sequoreus and S. 

 anguineus, having each a rudimentary caudal fin, and S. Ophidion and S. himbriciformis, 

 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 Ire- 

 land ; and another of the Syngnathidee, Hippocampus brevirostris, has been taken iu 

 Smerwick harbour, coast of Kerry. Of the marsupial species, S. Acus and 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 develop- 

 ment and protection of their ova can be accomplished. I have frequently taken both 

 species in states of spawning, the S. Typhle with the young partially extricated from 

 the ova, freed from the subcaudal pouch of the male, and actively swimming, whilst 



* " Latitude 12° 7" East and Longitude 93° 52" South." 



This is somewhat obscure, but I think, cm the whole, 

 It occurred t'other side of the Antarctic pole. 



