THE SYNGNATHID^j OR PIPE-FISH. 207 



tween fish, reptiles, and quadrupeds, are too remarkable 

 to be incidental ; and it is an extraordinary fact, that, if 

 we place the circles together, which compose these par- 

 ticular groups, we find that, at these points, at least, they 

 stand opposite each other. 



Analogies of the SYNGNATHiDiE. 



Circle of the Circle of the Circle of the Circle of Class 



Plectogruithes. Reptiles. Glues. Pisces. 



Balistidffi. Saures. ? Acanthopteryges. 



ChironectidEB. Ophides. ? Malacopteryges. 



Lophidse. Elanosaures. Glirids. Cartilagines. 



? Chelones. Hystricids. Plectognathes. 



Syngnathides. Chamelides. Marsupidce. Apodes. 



Our present business is only with the SyngnathidcB, 

 which — if the situation here assigned to them among 

 the Plectognathes be the true one — is found to repre- 

 sent the chameleons, by its eyes and its prehensile tail ; 

 the kangaroos (^MarsupldcE) , by its marsupial pouch ; 

 and the apodal fishes, by its want of ventral fins, its 

 eel-hke form, and its very long tail, often destitute of 

 a distinct caudal fin. The experienced naturalist will 

 perceive that the series of these columns are not altered 

 to suit our present object, but entirely repose on the 

 analysis of the groups, — these reciprocal analogies hav- 

 ing arisen, as it were, incidentally; for they have never, 

 until now, been in the least suspected. 



(183.) It will be seen, that in the first column we 

 have expressed a doubt as to the family type which 

 should fill up the hiatus between the Lophidce and 

 the Syngnathidce ; and yet there is a most extraordi- 

 nary fish, of a structure altogether unique, which, if 

 it belongs not to this class, we know not where to 

 arrange; we allude to the genus Po/?/j9^erM* of Geoffroy 

 Saint- Hilaire, a freshwater fish of the Nile, and which 

 that distinguished zoologist considers as forming in some 

 degree a connecting hnk between the osseous and the 

 cartilaginous orders : the opinion of such a profound 

 and experienced observer must always carry with it much 

 greater weight and influence than our own — and the 



