SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 169 



and November, 1871; Dr. McMurrich observed a specimen there in 1884; and it 

 has. of late been collected there on several occasions. On August 14, 1902, the 

 steamer Fish-Hawk collected a specimen off the harbor, and on November 12, 

 1902, Mr. J. H. Potter, of Beaufort, presentd to the laboratory a specimen that 

 had been taken in the vicinity. Another specimen, 12 inches long, was taken on 

 the north side of Bird Shoal in 1903. In June, 1905, Mr. Barton A. Bean seined 

 several specimens along the inner beach at Fort Macon. This species reaches a 

 length of 6 feet. It has no economic value. 



Order LOPHOBRANCHII. The Tuft-gilled Fishes. 



Family SYNGNATHIDiE. The Pipe-fishes and Sea-horses. 



The members of this family are among the most peculiar of marine fishes as 

 regards both form and habits. The body is more or less elongated, often slender, 

 and has no scales but is covered with bony plates which form a kind of armor. 

 The snout is long, tubular, and terminates in a small mouth without teeth. 

 The giU-opening is very small and at the upper posterior border of the opercle; 

 the gills are tufted and consist of small, rounded lobes; the gill-covers are sim- 

 ple, composed of a single plate. The tail is either stiff or prehensile, and is or is 

 not surmounted by a small caudal fin. The dorsal fin, inserted about the 

 middle of the body, is rather small and composed only of soft rays, the anal is 

 either rudimentary or well developed; the pectorals are small or lacking; the 

 ventrals are absent. The male is provided with an abdominal pouch in the 

 median line, into which the eggs are laid pending hatching. The genera are 

 numerous and the number of species is large, abounding in warmer waters, but 

 some species occur well to the north. Of the 5 American genera, 2 are repre- 

 sented on the east coast of the United States: 



i. Body very long, slender, with long axis of head In line with long axis of body; trunk not con- 

 spicuously larger than adjoining parts of body; caudal fin small; tail not prehensile; anal 



fm minute; head not like that of a horse Siphostoma. 



u. Body moderately elongate, the tail slender, with long axis of head at right angles to long 

 axis of body; trunk conspicuously larger than adjoining parts of body; caudal fin absent; 

 tail prehensile; anal fin well developed; head strongly resembling that of a horse. 



Hippocampus. 

 Genus SIPHOSTOMA Rafinesque. Pipe-fishes. 



Small, very slender, weak fishes inhabiting shoal bays and other sheltered 

 localities, and nearly always found among eel-grass and algse. The 6 or 7 sided 

 body tapers into a very long tail, and is protected by longitudinal series of keeled, 

 bony plates which form numerous rings on the body and tail. The head is long 

 slender, with a tube-like snout, which is longer in the female. All the fins are 

 small; the dorsal low and over or immediately anterior to vent, the anal minute, 

 the pectorals short and broad. The egg-pouch, formed of two folds of skin, is on 

 the under side of the tail in the male. There are many American species, six 

 being known from the Atlantic coast from Key West northward. Three species 

 are recorded from North Carolina, and several others may be looked for as 

 stragglers from the south. 



