CHAPTER LX 

 ORDER OF PIPEFISHES AND SEA-HORSES 



LOPHOBRANCHI 



ylT the foot of the Subclass of Bony Fishes stand certain 

 -^ ^ small creatures, each of which is so fantastic in form 

 that it requires to be introduced with the solemn assurance, 

 "This is a fish ! " At first glance, any one wholly unacquainted 

 with them might from their hard external shells be inclined 

 to regard them as particularly odd crustaceans; but the pres- 

 ence of tiny fins without and skeletons more or less bony 

 within, place them fairly within the confines of the Bony 

 Fishes. 



The Great Pipefish^ is a long, slender stalk of jointed 

 bone, with queer little fins very far apart, and a head that 

 terminates in a long, hollow tube. But for this very tough 

 and persistent bony armor, other small fishes would devour 

 the Pipefishes, bit by bit, as children bite off sticks of candy. 

 Its armor is so stiff, however, that the wearer moves slowly 

 and with difficulty, and the prey usually sought by this fish 

 is found very small and weak, hiding in the branches of sea- 

 weed, coral clusters, sponges, and the sea-grasses generally. 

 It was for insertion into such hunting-grounds as these that 

 the long, tubular snout of this fish has been develoj^ed. 



' Syng-na'thus a'cus. 

 286 



