278 MALACOPTERYGII. — SYNGNATHID^E. 
to do them serious injury. Mr. Jesse mentions 
a habit which implies the union of much sagacity 
with voracity^ and reminds us of the device of 
the gregarious wolves in North America^ which 
surround a herd of bisons or deer, and gradually 
force them to a precipice, that, being compelled 
to leap down, they may be killed ; after which 
the crafty pursuers descend and feed upon the 
bodies at their leisure. A large quantity of 
Eels have been observed, in one of the Cumber- 
land lakes, to form a circle round a shoal of 
small fish in shallow water ; and after driving 
them to the shore, they readily caught and fed 
upon them. I have observed the same thing take 
place in the canal in Hampton Court Park.”^ 
The excellence of these fishes is well known. 
Immense numbers are consumed in London and 
other large cities ; principally supplied by the 
Dutch. One or more Dutch boats constantly 
lie off Billingsgate ; others run back to Holland 
for fresh supplies, each bringing a cargo of 
15,000 to 20,000 pounds weight of live Eels. 
Family XII. Syngnathid^e. 
{Pipe-fishes.) 
Peculiarities of structure and form, of economy 
and manners, render this Family, though small 
both in extent of species and individual dimen- 
sions, one of very great interest. Their bodies 
are long and slender, with the muzzle produced 
into a tubular snout, just as in the FistulariadcE 
among the Acanthopterygii, whence, like 
* Jesse’s Scenes of Country Life, 351. 
