Phthinobranchii 249 
ventral fins. Aulorhynchus, like Spinachia, has many dorsal 
spines and an elongate snout approaching that of a trumpet- 
fish. Aulorhynchus flavidus lives on the coast of California 
and Aulichthys japonicus in Japan. The extinct family of Pro- 
tosyngnathide is near Aulorhynchus, with the snout tubular, the 
ribs free, not anchylosed as in Aulorhynchus, and with the first 
vertebre fused, forming one large one as in Aulostomus. Proto- 
syngnathus sumatrensis occursin Sumatra. Protaulopsis bolcensis 
of the Eocene of Italy has the ventral fins farther back, and is 
probably more primitive than the sticklebacks. 
Cornet-fishes: Fistulariide.— Closely related to the stickle- 
backs so far as structure is concerned is a family of very dif- 
ferent habit, the cornet-fishes, or cornetas (Fistularitde). In 
these fishes the body is very long and slender, like that of a 
garfish. The snout is produced into a very long tube, which 
bears the short jaws at the end. The teeth are very small. 
There are no scales, but bony plates are sunk in the skin. The 
ventrals are abdominal, each with a spine and four rays. The 
four anterior vertebre are very much elongate. There are 
no spines in the dorsal and the backbone extends through the 
forked caudal, ending in a long filament. The cornet-fishes 
are dull red or dull green in color. They reach a length of 
two or three feet, and the four or five known species are widely 
distributed through the warm seas, where they swim in shallow 
water near the surface. istularia tabaccaria, the tobacco- 
pipe fish, is common in the West Indies, Fistularia petimba, 
F. serrata, and others in the Pacific. A fossil cornet-fish of very 
small size, Fistularia longirostris, is known from the Eocene 
of Monte Bolca, near Verona. Fustularia kenigi is recorded 
from the Oligocene of Glarus. 
The Trumpet-fishes: Aulostomide.—The Aulostomide, or trum- 
pet-fishes are in structure entirely similar to the Fvstu- 
lariide, but the body is band-shaped, compressed, and scaly, 
. the long snout bearing the feeble jaws at the end. There 
are numerous dorsal spines and no filament on the tail. 
Aulostomus chinensis (maculatus) is common in the West Indies, 
Aulostomus valentini abounds in Polynesia and Asia, where 
it is a food-fish of moderate importance. A species of Aulosto- 
mus (bolcensis) is found in the Italian Eocene. Allied to it is 
