GREAT PIPEFISH. 
G69 
that according to his opinion had already been represented by Ron- 
delet ( De Pise., lib. VIII, cap. II 1 1, p. 229) in distinct figures, but 
combined in one chapter (as one species). The first of these figures 
evidently represents the species called Typhle in Belon (Nat., Divers. 
Poiss., p. 446); the second (lower) figure should thus correspond to 
the species called by Linnveus Syngnathus acits, assuming that this 
species occurs in the Mediterranean, from which locality Rondelet 
had procured his fish". After Artedi’s observation: “Numerus in- 
cisurarum seu crenarum transversarum, in hoc genere, omnino atten- 
detidus est’ , when we employ the Linnaaan name, we must first be 
guided by the character which Linnaeus gives, and which is drawn 
from the number of the rings on the body. Both Fries (1. c.) and 
Sundevall (1. c.) have adequately shown that Linnaeus otherwise con- 
founded these two species, and cannot be regarded as an authority on 
this question. As Sundevall also points out, Donovan, in his descrip- 
tion of Syngn. typhle, was the first after Artedi clearly to define the 
distinction between the two species, and the first to give to the name 
of acus the employment which has subsequently and rightly been 
observed by the English faunists. 
The Great Pipefish attains a length of about half 
a metre (Storm). From Dynekil (Bohuslan) the Royal 
Museum has received through Mr. C. A. Hansson spe- 
cimens up to 442 mm. long. The elongated, wliip-like 
body shows a distinct break, especially in adult speci- 
mens, at the boundary between the trunk and the tail; 
and the trunk is thickest, as usual, in the females. The 
greatest depth of the body, at the middle of the trunk, 
may sometimes rise to nearly 5 % of its length, but is 
usually only 3 or 4 % thereof, or in the females about 
13 Vu — 15 %, in the males about 11 — 12 % of the length 
of the trunk * * * * 6 . The greatest breadth is as a rule about 
4 / 5 of the greatest depth. At the beginning of the tail 
the depth of the body in old specimens is at most 
about 3 %, sometimes only 27 2 % c of its length, and 
from this point it decreases regularly to the shallow 
base of the caudal fin. The length of the trunk behind 
the gill-cover is abc ut 28 — 26 % of that of the body; 
and the length of the tail, including the caudal fin, 
varies between about 59 and 61 % of that of the body. 
The plate-armour is distributed in such a manner 
that 21 or 22, sometimes, in young specimens, 20 rings 
(including the ring of the shoulder-girdle) belong to 
the trunk, and 43 — 45 to the tail. Here, as in the 
other Syngnathi, these plates are striated with trans- 
verse ridges and grooves between them, starting from 
the middle carina, which is finely dentated. The upper- 
most plates, which meet at the middle of the back, are 
almost square and bent at a slightly obtuse angle, ren- 
dering the dorsal side flat or slightly concave. In the 
middle lateral row on the trunk the plates are more 
distinctly hexagonal or even octagonal, and bent at a. 
very obtuse angle. In the lowest lateral row on the 
trunk the angle of curvature varies according to the 
greater or less distension of the belly, but the form of 
the plates is more like that of those in the middle 
lateral row. The middle ventral row also consists of 
hexagonal or octagonal plates. The two hindmost rings 
on the trunk are without ventral plate, its place being 
occupied by the anal region. On account of the form 
of the plates two rows of diamond-shaped patches, co- 
vered only' with skin, are left on each side of the trunk 
and also on its ventral side; but on the back there is 
only one row of these rhombs, which generally extend 
across the whole dorsal plane, but sometimes, especially 
in front, are indistinct, the contiguous plates being per- 
fectly rectangular. The middle lateral row of the trunk 
ends in the hindmost ring of this region, as a rule 
obliquely below the beginning of the row that forms 
behind the dorsal fin the upper lateral margin of the 
tail, and below the posterior part of the dorsal fin (be- 
hind the vent) a middle lateral row belonging to the 
tail. But sometimes the last-mentioned row wedges 
itself into the hindmost ring on the trunk, which ring 
may thus contain four plates on each side. The dif- 
ference in this respect is, however, so irregular that 
we sometimes find the former to be the case on one 
side of the body, the latter on the other side. The 
four sides of the tail behind the dorsal fin are con- 
structed in the same manner as the dorsal plane of 
the trunk; but the ventral side is broader than the 
dorsal, which is parallel to it, the difference being 
greatest in old specimens. The marsupium of the males 
extends under 24 — 26 rings. 
The length of the head measures 12 — 1 3 x / 2 % of 
that of the body. At the occiput it is only slightly 
shallower than the beginning of the trunk and not 
very sharply marked off therefrom. Here as in the 
Syngnatln in general, the trunk is furnished at the 
° Whether the Atlantic Syngnathus acus also occurs in the Mediterranean, is not yet decided with certainty. Moreau had no know- 
ledge of it from this locality, and Canestrini (Fauna DPtalia, Pesci ) does not include it among the fishes of Italy. On the other hand, 
Moreau gives Syngnathus ettion, and Canestrini Sygn. ta’nionotus, which seem to stand in the same relation to the Mediterranean Syngn. 
rubescens, as Syngn. rostellatus to Syngn. acus. 
6 In young specimens about I 1 /., din. long the greatest depth of the body may be only about 2 1 /., o/ o of its length and 10 % of the 
length of the trunk. 
c In young specimens still less, sinking at least to 2 1 /- "l of the length of the body. 
