262 LOPHOBRANCHII. 



Varieties. — Mr. Cornish's Syngnathus brevicaudatus differs from some examples 

 in having no caudal fin, which appendage is frequently absent. Having seen 

 the two described specimens at Mount's Bay, my opinion is that they belong to 

 this species. Moreau observes that S. cequoreus has 6 and S. anguineus 5 caudal 

 rays. 



Names. — Painted sea adder, Cornwall. De Adder-Z eenald, Dutch. 



Habits. — R. Couch tells us they live in deep water from 15 to 50 fathoms, and 

 consequently are rarely seen. In May, June, often in July, and sometimes in 

 August they rise to the surface and bask in the sun. Here they retain their position 

 by clasping with their tails cords, buoys of crab-pots, seaweeds, sticks or floating 

 substances. I have taken many off the Devonshire coast in shallow water with 

 the dredge during August and September. Andrews remarks upon having 

 noticed this fish greedily stripping the stems of Zostera marina of the young 

 of Anihea vereus, which were attached in a semi-glutinous state. 



Means of capture. — Ogilby observes " that at Portrush he took them in a curious 

 way : namely, in open net-work lobster pots, where, though in no way detained 

 by the meshes, they were invariably found clinging, with the end of their tails 

 curled once or twice round the net- work, preferring to trust to this rather than 

 swim away" (Zool. 1876, p. 4754). Mr. Cornish has taken it in a trammel. 



Breeding. — W. Andrews, 1. c, observes (see page 256), " 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" (Zool. 1. c. p. 7053). 



Habitat. — Northern Seas, British Isles, Havre. Not rare in the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands (Baikie) : not uncommon along the east coast of Scotland : Norfolk 

 estuary (Lowe), Scarborough (Tarrell), the estuary of the Thames, the south 

 coast of England, at Teignmouth, where I took many dredging in shore ; at 

 Weymouth common (Gosse), also in Cornwall (Couch), Guernsey (Lukis), 

 Swansea (Dillwyn), and the Isle of Man (Wallace). 



Ireland. — Occasionally taken on all sides of the island : not rare off Dublin. 

 " Last winter I met with an immense fish of this kind : seeing a boy whacking a 

 donkey with a gutta-percha stick, as I thought, I asked him where he got it. 

 ' It's only the stalk of a snot (seaweed), sir ; see : ' and I did see a fine asquoreal 

 3 feet 5 inches long. Of its toughness you may judge. It is not uncommonly 

 taken in the baskets with whelks and crabs " (Blake-Knox, Zool. 1866, 

 p. 508). Common Portrush, co. Antrim (Ogilby). A beautiful and perfect 

 specimen, 20 inches long, found dead along with a larger one on the beach near 

 Ballantrae, in the summer of 1838 ; it had a distinct caudal fin with 5 rays 

 (Thompson). Common at Portrush (Ogilby). Attains to 24 inches (Jenyns) : 

 41 inches (Blake-Knox). 



2. Nerophis ophidion, Plate CXLIV, fig. 5. 



Syngnathus, sp. Artedi, Genera, p. 1, no. 2, Synon. p. 2, no. 4, Species, p. 1, 

 no. 1. 



Syngnathus ophidion, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 417; Bl. iii, p. 146, t. xci, f. 3; Lacep. 

 ii, p. 48 ; Bl. Schn. p. 515 ; Ekstrom, Vet. Akad. Handl. 1831, p. 280, t. ii, f. 3, 

 4, and Fisch. Morko, p. 134, t. vi, f . 3, 4 ; Fries, Vet. Akad. Handl. 1837, p. 36, 

 t. iii, f. 4, and Wiegm. Arch. 1838, p. 248, t. vi, f . 4 ; Templeton, Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1837 (2), i, p. 413 ; Thompson, Pro. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 58, and Nat. Hist. Ire- 

 land, iv, p. 241 ; Parnell, Wern. Mem. vii, p. 399; Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (ed. 1), ii, 

 p. 338, c. fig. (ed. 2), ii, p. 447 ; Jenyns, Manual, p. 487 ; Risso, Ich. Nice, p. 68 ; 

 White, Catal, p. 44. 



Scyphius ophidion, Nilss. Skand. Faun, iv, p. 694 ; Malm, p, 597. 



Acus ophidion, Swainson, ii, p. 333. 



