56 NATURAL HISTORY. [UPPER FLOOR. 
from the Carapi, merely in having a long dorsal, and no 
anal fin. 
The Morris ( Leptocephalus ) is very peculiar for the ex¬ 
ceeding thinness of its body, which resembles a riband, 
and is nearly as transparent as glass ; its fins are scarcely 
visible, and its intestines occupy merely a very narrow line 
along the lower edge of the body. 
The Launces ( Ammodytes ) have elongated, compressed 
bodies, covered with scales placed in transverse series, and 
the dorsal, caudal and anal fin separate from each other. 
The jaws are acute and extensile : they bury in the sand 
and live on the worms which they find in it. 
The Pipe Fish ( Syngnathidce) form the next group. 
They have the jaws, and the fibrous, bony skeleton of 
other fishes, but their gills are divided into little tufts, 
placed by pairs on the bony branchial arches, instead of 
being formed of regular, pectinated plates. Their body is 
also covered with shields, which give it an angular appear¬ 
ance. In the true Pipe Fish ( Syngnathus ) the mouth is 
situated at the end of a tubular beak. The eggs in 
some species are placed under two folds of skin on the 
side of the abdomen, in others they are attached to the 
skin of the abdomen itself. Many of the species are 
straight, but some contract after death, so as to form a 
grotesque resemblance to a horse in miniature, whence 
they are called Sea Horses ( Hippocampi ). The Pegasi 
( Pegasi ) differ from them by the mouth being placed at 
the base of a prominent muzzle. The ventral fin of some 
of the species of this genus is very large and expanded, 
whence their name. 
The following fishes differ from all the former by the 
jaws being formed of the maxillary and intermaxillary 
bones united together into one body; and by the pala¬ 
tine arch being connected with the cranium by a suture, 
and consequently immoveable. Their skeleton is soft, but 
fibrous. 
Cases 7 and 8. The first of these, the Gymnodontes, 
have the jaws shaped like the beak of a parrot, and com¬ 
posed of parallel laminae united together. They live on 
Crustacea, shells, and sea-weeds, and their flesh, which 
has usually a musky odour, is said to be deleterious at 
particular seasons. Several of these fishes have the faculty 
