Fishes. 7053 



other portions of the ova in the pouch were not nnatured. These two species having 

 a true caudal fin exercise it as a propeller, similar to other fishes, not being prehensile 

 as in the other sections. The manner of passing the ova to the marsupial bag of the 

 male fish is singular. In shoal water or a low tide these fish may sometimes be seen 

 in pairs, 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 fish having the power of expanding the 

 lappings of the sac, and attaching the ova by a highly viscid or glutinous secretion. 

 In lime, 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 Nerophis of the last edition of Yarrell and the Ancestra of other authors, the 

 male fish are destitute of the abdominal or caudal pouch, and, unlike the last, have 

 scarcely any caudal fin, their long taperiqg tail enabling them to twine around and 

 cling to the stems of the larger Algae. In Dingle Harbour the S. aequoreus may be 

 met with very abundantly in the summer months, spawning in the months of .lune 

 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 exception that the males have no abdominal sac to 

 enclose the ova. These fish, under favourable opportunities 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 S. lumbriciformis, 

 and in which the ova, attached in three rows, is seen. The S. anguineus and S. Ophi- 

 dion are similar in habit to S. aequoreus, 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 S. lumbriciformis is more frequent in rocky pools under stones, and is the smallest 

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

 able for its beautiful markings, especially about the head, of wavy bars, and with white 

 spots along the length of its body. The irides are reddish. It spawns and perfects 

 its young in July. I regret that I did not obtain the recent specimens, to have 

 examined the interesting novelty, certainly first detected and described by Dr. Corri- 

 gan, of the manner in which the fish in feeding exercises a power for the inflating of 

 the pouch or gullet, and the expansion of the jaw and mouth. I was aware of the 

 singular manner of the distending of the throat and mouth of the dory {Zeus Faber) 

 in receiving its food, and of singular peculiarities in Centriscus and in the Capros Aper, 

 but the power in the Syngnathus appears altogether new, and seems analogous to the 

 peculiarity in the vesicular inflation exercised by the hyoid bone in the howling 



I monkeys, which communicates with the larynx, and produces the sound which gives 

 the appellation to the animal. It is quite obvious how necessary are practical investi- 

 gations in the living state to arrive at any accuracy in the characteristic habits of 

 animals, and hence have resulted the observations of Dr. Corrigan. I should have 

 mentioned that I have noticed S. aequoreus greedily stripping the stems of Zostera 



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