DEEP-NOSED PIPEFISH. 
677 
native haunts of the fishes, after some time we may 
make an extremely interesting observation. The leaves 
of the seaweed have partly risen vertically or obliquely 
through the water, and stand motionless, slowly sway- 
ing to and fro if the aquarium be slightly shaken. 
Among them, motionless or swaying with the leaves, 
the slender Pipefishes have chosen their positions, and 
we can only just see how the gill-covers expand and 
contract, or how the perfectly transparent dorsal fin 
ceaselessly continues its vibrating and undulating mo- 
tion. The colour of the fishes, often down to the most 
delicate shades, is exactly like that of the seaweed. 
Often we imagine that we are gazing at a blade of 
seaweed, and only on closer inspection do Ave discover 
that it is a Pipefish, and vice versa. The same light or 
dark, green or yelloAvish green hue covers both sea- 
Aveed and Pipefishes; the singular, lighter tint of green 
Avhich the former sometimes shoAvs in isolated patches, 
is faithfully reproduced in the latter. Among the 
green, still living seaAveed there lie here and there a 
number of partly or entirely dead leaves, in all shades 
of colour from green to dirty-broAvn and broAvnish 
black. At these spots the Pipefishes assume a different 
hue, their colour passing gradually, according to their 
different surroundings, into broAvn or broAvnish black, 
until, Avhether their position be vertical or horizontal, 
they are scarcely to be distinguished from a dead blade 
of seaAveed. — The time occupied by this adaptation of 
colour varies considerably. Mechanical irritation of the 
skin and psychical irritation seem distinctly to ac- 
celerate the process. Large Pipefishes, Avhich Avere 
quite dark Avhen taken in the hand, at once assume 
a pale green colour, all the time struggling violently 
to get loose; and if they are transferred to a vessel 
Avith darker bottom, their dark coloration returns pretty 
soon. Full-groAvn Pipefishes, if left undisturbed, seem, 
to require at most an hour to change colour; but in 
young specimens, about 2 1 / 2 cm. long, Avhich have just 
emerged from the marsupium, the change is effected 
Avith extreme rapidity, in a fraction of a minute. — 
The inner layers of the skin contain greenish yelloAV 
chromatophores, the outer layers darker ones, black 
Avhen contracted, broAvn when expanded. The contrac- 
tion of the latter, which affords a beautiful sight under 
the microscope, may take place with astonishing ra- 
pidity. The handsome, stellate figures of the chromato- 
phores, which at many spots appear to lie united by 
their projections, distinctly shrink until they form small 
dots, Avith one or tAvo grains of pigment detached from 
the central mass of colour. I have not been able to 
observe the contraction and expansion of the greenish 
yelloAV chromatophores, Avhich Avould thus seem to per- 
form their alterations much more slowly than the dark 
chromatophores. The light cells never expand into 
figures of so varied form as the black.” 
Our figure (Plate XXIX, fig. 1) represents a spe- 
cimen of the green variety. 
The geographical range of the Deep-nosed Pipe- 
fish extends along the Avhole west coast of Europe, 
from Norwegian Finmark to Gibraltar. Tromso Mu- 
seum received it in 1881, according to Collett, from 
Belstad Fjord, a little south of Tromso; and according 
to Lilljeborg Upsala Museum has received it through 
Professor Th. Fries from Vadso. On the south coast 
of Scandinavia it is very common, and it penetrates into 
the Baltic at least to the south of the Gulf of Bothnia 
and almost to the head of the Gulf of Finland (Mela). 
In the island-belt of Stockholm, according to Sunde- 
yall, it is plentiful Avherever Fucus vesiculosus groAvs 
luxuriantly. In the island-belt of Morko it is taken 
in quantities, according to Ekstrom, Avhen the seine is 
drawn for other fish, except during May and June, Avhen 
it seldom, if ever, visits the shores or the shalloAvs. 
On the coast of Gothland it is common among Zoster a 
marina , according to Lindstrom. It is quite as com- 
mon, if not more so, in the south and Avest of the 
Baltic, on the Avest coast of SAveden, on the Danish 
coast, and on the south coast of Norway. Further 
north and further south it grows less common, and is 
said to be rare in the Mediterranean, Avhere its place 
is taken to a great extent by another species, Syn- 
gnathus Bondeletii, Avith deeper snout (least depth of 
the snout greater than the depth of the body at the 
beginning of the tail), shorter dorsal fin (length of the 
base less than 1 1 1 / 2 % of that of the body), and more 
rings on the trunk (20 or 21), or thus related in the 
most essential respects to our Deep-nosed Pipefish in 
the same way as the Great Pipefish to the Lesser 
species. 
Except in the spaAvning-season the Deep-nosed Pipe- 
fish generally keeps close to the shore, in a feAv metres 
of Avater or even less, among grass-Avrack {Zoster a 
marina ) and bladder-wrack {Fucus vesiculosus ), Avhere 
it has shrimps and their young, small crustaceans, 
minute mollusks, and Avorms as its usual comrades and 
principal diet. Young fishes and tiny Gobies also fall a 
