238 Phthinobranchii 
tail of a sea-horse. Most of the living species of the sea-horse 
belong to the genus Hippocampus. These little creatures 
have the egg-sac of the male under 
the abdomen. They range from 
two inches to a foot in length and 
some of the many species may be 
found in abundance in every warm 
sea. Some cling by the tails to 
floating seaweed and are swept to 
great distances; others cling to eel- 
grass and live very near the shore. 
The commonest European species 
is Hippocampus hippocampus. Most 
abundant on our Atlantic coast is 
Hippocampus hudsonius. Hippo- 
campus coronatus is most common 
in Japan. The largest species are 
Hippocampus ingens of Lower Cali- 
fornia and Hippocampus kellogge 
in Japan. Many species, especially 
of the smaller ones, have the spines 
of the bony plates of the body 
ending in fleshy flaps. These are 
sometimes so enlarged as to simu- 
late leaves of seaweed, thus serving 
for the efficient protection of the 
DR ene Peete species. These flaps are developed 
sities alle ak to an extreme degree in Phyl- 
lopteryx eques, a pipefish of the East Indies. 
No fossil sea-horses are known. 
The following account of the breeding-habits of our smallest 
sea-horse (Hippocampus zostereé) was prepared by the writer 
for a book of children’s stories: 
“He was a little bit of a sea-horse and his name was Hippo- 
campus. He was not more than an inch long, and he had a 
red stripe on the fin on his back, and his head was made of bone 
and it had ashape just like a horse’s head, but he ran out to a 
point at his tail, and his head and his tail were all covered with 
bone. He lived in the Grand Lagoon at Pensacola in Florida, 
