PIPE-FISHES. 
279 
them, these have obtained the name of Pipe- 
fishes. The body is covered with a cuirass of 
bony plates, generally of angular form, and so 
arranged that the body itself is many-sided. 
The gill-covers are large, but soldered down for 
the greatest part of their edge, leaving only a small 
orifice for the discharge of the water which has 
been respired. The gill-rays are formed in the 
usual manner, but the gills themselves, instead 
of taking the form of fringes, set in parallel 
series like comb-teeth, are disposed in small tufts 
set on the arches in pairs ; a structure of which 
there is no other example in the whole Class. 
The reproduction of the species in this Fa- 
mily is attended with some circumstances truly 
anomalous. The male acts as a sort of nurse 
for the rearing of the infant progeny, thus reliev- 
ing his mate of the parental cares which usually 
devolve upon the female. For this end he has 
on the abdomen, extending for about two-thirds 
of its length, two soft fiaps which fold together, 
and thus form a false belly or pouch. The 
spawn is deposited by the mother in this recep- 
tacle of her partner, where it becomes matured, 
and in which the young escape from the cap- 
sules. But even when active, and able to shift 
for themselves, the young resort, in cases of 
alarm, to the paternal pouch for shelter. Mr. 
Yarrell was assured by fishermen that if the 
young of the Great Pipe-fish {Syngnathus acus^ 
Linn.) were shaken out of the pouch into the 
water over the side of the boat, they did not 
swim away, but when the parent fish was held 
in the water in a favourable position, the young 
would again enter the receptacle. The analogy 
