272 CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES^ ETC. 



Family 5. AGONID.^. Mailed Bullheads, 



Body angulated, generally long and slender^ resembling 

 the Pipe-fish or Syngnathidae, covered with mailed 

 plates; jaws prolonged^ somewhat tubidar; vomer with- 

 out teeth ; ventral fins very small^ of two rays. 



Asphidopliorus Lac. Body ovate, oblong; head thick, 

 depressed^ rather broad ; the tip of the muzzle some- 

 what recui*>^ed, and armed with two spines ; mouth 

 beneath, lower jaw shortest, with numerous slender 

 cirri ; dorsal fins two, united at the base ; tail sud- 

 denly attenuated. 



A. Europseus. Yarr. i. 70. Blocli, pi. 39. 



Agonus BL, Tilesius. Head narrower; body linear, 



very long ; snout without spines ; mouth terminal, 



opening vertically ; dorsal fins united ; ventral of two 



rays. 



A. dodecaedrus. Til. Pe- lavigatus. Til. Petersb. Tr. ii. 

 tersb. Tr. iv. pi. 13. pi. 14, 



rostratus. lb. iv. pi, 14, Senegalensis. Griff, pi. 53. 



fig. 1. 



HiPPOCEPHALUs Sw. Body shorter, irreg-ularly ovate ; 



head small ; the nape much contracted ; dorsal fins 



two, remote, the first with strong spines ; caudal 



ovate, rounded; three rows of spinal processes on 



the sides. 



superciliosus. Pall. Sp. decagonus. Schn. pi. 27. 



Zool. vii. pi. 5. quadricomis, Cuv, pi. 80. 



Canthiryxchus Sw. Body very long, linear ; dorsal 

 fin single, small, placed in the middle of the back, 

 above the anal fin ; snout short, armed with two 

 spines ; mouth terminal ; plates on the body smooth ; 

 ventral fins small, of three rays. 



C. monopterygius. Cuv, and Val. pi. 169, 



his H. Tilesii, appears to me dififerent : the first has only three rays to the 

 ventral, whereas the species figured by Cuvier is represented with five in 

 his plate 85. 



