PIPEFISHES. 
refrain from inferring the fecundity of this fish from 
the number of eggs in the female. To judge by the 
numbers among these islands, the males are so few in 
comparison to the females that hardly one of the former 
can be found among ten of the latter.” 
Ekstrom’s observation that during the spawning 
the Deep-nosed Pipefish retires to deeper water, at least 
two fathoms or more in depth, has been corro- 
borated in Bohuslan by A. H. Malm (1. c., p. 18), 
who supposes that the spawning is most general 
there from the middle of June to the beginning of 
August. 
Besides the protective likeness which the Deep- 
nosed Pipefish attains by means of its changes of colour, 
Heinckk has remarked another, which is given to the 
males while their marsupium is distended with eggs or 
young. The marsupium with its long slit at the middle 
then presents a striking resemblance to the spathe of 
Zostera, and still further increases the difficulty of 
679 
distinguishing these fishes from the flowering grass- 
wrack. 
The young stay in the marsupium or take refuge 
therein (see above) until they have attained a length of 
about 25 mm. As A. II. Malm and Lilljeborg have 
remarked, they are destitute of the embryonic vertical 
fin, which is present, however, in the larvte of the 
Great Pipefish. They grow rapidly, according to Heincke, 
attaining a length of at least one decimetre by the end 
of the first year; and the marsupium of the males may 
sometimes be fully developed even at an earlier period. 
The number of the caudal rings increases during growth 
from 32 to 37 or 38, but even in specimens about 6 
cm. long the number of rings on the trunk is complete 
or at least 17. 
The Deep-nosed Pipe-fish is of no greater econo- 
mical value than the rest of the Lophobranchs. It may 
be employed, however, as food for swine or as bait 
for Cod and Bullheads. 
Genus NEROPHIS. 
Pectoral and anal fins wanting. The males carry tl 
side of 
Fries bestowed upon this genus, which he charac- 
terized, but regarded merely as a subdivision of the 
genus Syngnathus, the Swedish name of Hafsnalar (Sea- 
Needles)". Rafinesque had indeed established a ge- 
nus Nerophis b in 1810, but Kaup was the first (in 
1 853 c ) to give this name a fixed application. Dume- 
rii/ treated this division as a distinct subfamily, Ne- 
rophini, which he distributed among three genera. 
As we have mentioned above, this group is dis- 
tinguished from the preceding Syngnathince not only 
by the constant absence of the anal fin and the dis- 
appearance of the pectoral fins and, in most cases, of 
the caudal fin, but also by the weaker covering of 
plates and the less distinct car i rue on the body. The 
skin that covers the plates, on the other hand, is more 
strongly developed and sometimes elevated at the middle 
of the back and the belly in the form of a dermal 
carina or even (in Protocampus) of an embryonic, but 
“ Syngnatlii opliidii as opposed to the preceding group, which 
6 Indice d’ittiologia Siciliana. We have not seen this rare 
a minor sea-god) and orptg, snake. 
c Arch. Naturg., Jahrg. XIX, Bd. I, p. 234; Cat. Lophobr. 1 
,l Hist. Nat. Poiss. (Suit, a Buff.), torn. II, p. 600. 
impregnated eggs in a layer of mucus on the ventral 
e trunk. 
persistent vertical fin. Another essential difference is 
that the upper row of plates on the trunk (the dorsal 
row) advances on each side of the body even along the 
tail, and that the middle lateral row on the trunk passes 
in the same manner into the lower caudal row, the lower 
lateral rows of the trunk and its ventral row being 
thus unrepresented in the plate-armour of the tail. 
Fries has remarked the significant sexual distinc- 
tions that prevail in the species of this group, partly 
in the position of the vent (comparatively further back 
in the females), partly in the form of the trunk (deeper 
and narrower, with more distinct dorsal and ventral 
carinas, in the females). He has also pointed out that 
the most trustworthy specific characters must be sought 
in the position of the dorsal fin, the number of rings 
on the trunk, and the length of the snout in proportion 
to its depth and to the length of the head. Guided by 
these observations, he arrived at a. safe stand-point for 
he called Syngnathi marsupiales. 
work. The name is formed from the Greek vrjQog, wet (or NcQEtg, 
7 ish. Brit. Mus., p. 65. 
86 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
