PIPEFISHES. 
667 
Ever since Fries" pointed out the remarkable fact 
that the larva? of Nerophis lumbriciformis are furnished 
with fully developed and actively employed pectoral fins, 
it has been evident that the former of the two above 
groups, into which we have after Fries divided the 
Scandinavian Syngnathince, has been developed by a 
retrogressive metamorphosis from forms agreeing more 
closely with the better equipped types. The Needle- 
fishes ( Syngnatlii Ophidii in Fries) are also distinguished 
by a considerably smaller head, in adult fishes less than 
7 10 of the length of the body, and a smoother body, 
without or at least with only indistinct longitudinal 
Carina?'. It is also a rule among the Lophobranehs that 
the larvae and the young fishes have sharper carinae or 
even spines on the plates of the body, where the older 
fishes show fainter traces thereof. Thus the Needle- 
fishes, in this respect too, represent older (more advan- 
ced) stages of development. This cannot prevent them, 
however, from being regarded as less fully equipped 
even in respect to the covering of the body. An exotic 
genus within this group, Protocampus , which otherwise 
comes fairly near Nerophis, also retains the larval ver- 
tical fin even in the case of full-grown specimens, at 
the dorsal edge both in front of and behind the true 
dorsal fin, and at the ventral edge of the trunk. Again, 
the manner in which the male Needle-fishes carry their 
eggs, must surely be regarded as more primitive than 
the corresponding arrangement in the rest of the Syn- 
gnathi. We therefore begin our description with the forms 
which Fries called Tdngsndllor ( Syngnatlii Marsupiales). 
Genus SYNGNATHUS'. 
The adult fishes furnished with pectoral, caudal , dorsal, and anal fins. The uppermost row of plates on each, 
side of the trunk terminates posteriorly at the end of the dorsal fin or just in front of this point. Vent situated 
impregnated eggs in a canaliculate sac underneath the tail. 
in the anterior half of the body. The males carry the 
Some fifty species, known and defined with greater 
or less certainty, are contained within this genus, which 
is spread over all the seas of the Tropical and Tem- 
perate Zones, and is represented even in some of the 
rivers and lakes of the Tropics. 
The upper marginal carina on each side of the tail 
runs forward in this genus below the posterior part of 
the upper lateral carina of the body, on each side of the 
dorsal fin, either to meet the middle lateral carina of the 
trunk or to disappear above its termination. The egg-sac 
of the males is formed in this genus in the following 
manner. The anterior part of the lower marginal carina 
of the tail grows obliquely downwards on each side for 
a greater or less part of its length, and along the un- 
der surface of the free margin develops a dermal fold, 
a continuation of the anal mucous membrane. These 
dermal folds on each side of the body converge towards 
each other, but without coalescing, their free margins 
being closely approximated to each other, but leaving a 
slit, which the fish can widen or firmly close at pleasure. 
“When the spawning-season approaches,” says Ekstrom 
of Syngnathus typhle, “the foliate lids (dermal folds) 
that close the marsupium of the male, become swollen, 
and the marsupium is gradually filled with a white, 
clear, and thick mucus, which serves as a bed for the 
eggs, and decreases in quantity as the young grow, 
until, by the time they are large enough to swim and 
make independent progress though the water, little or 
none of it remains. One day in the month of July 1 
was present at the hauling of a seine in the island- 
belt, and secured a male of this species that had fully 
developed young in the marsupium. I at once con- 
structed a dam with stones from the beach, and the 
fish was set in the pool soon after it had been taken 
from the seine. After it had swum to and fro for a 
while, it opened the marsupium by a downward move- 
ment of the tail, whereupon the young crept out one 
after another and swam under and on both sides of the 
male, but always kept close to its body at a. little di- 
stance from the marsupium. As soon as I tried to capture 
the male, it made a sudden movement, at the same 
time bending the body in an arch upwards, and the 
young at once crept into the marsupium, the lids of 
which Avere then shut. The same experiment Avas re- 
“ Metamorphos, cinmarkt lios Lilia ILafsnalen , Vet. Akad. Handl. 1837, p. 59. 
b Artedi, Iclithyol., Gen. Pise., p. 1. In his works, however, this genus represented the whole of the modern series Lophobrancliii. 
In Aristotle the genus was called (SeXovrj, a name which Athen^eus subsequently transferred to the modern Rhampliistoma. Gaza translated 
/SeA.ot'tj by acus, which was the most general name of the genus during the Middle Ages; but Belon called it Typhle or Typliline. 
