88 
room xi* skeleton of the 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 an^ 
gular appearance. In the true Pipe Fish ( Syn - 
gnaihus) the mouth is placed at the end of a 
tubular beak. The eggs in some species are 
placed under two folds of skin situated on the 
side of the abdomen ; in others they are at¬ 
tached to the skin of the abdomen itself. Many 
of the species are straight, but some contract 
after death, so as to form a grotesque resem¬ 
blance of a horse in miniature; from whence 
they are called Sea Horses ( Hippocampus )* 
The Pegasi differ in the mouth being placed 
at the base of a prominent muzzle. The ven¬ 
tral fin of some of the species of this genus is 
very large and expanded; from 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. Their skeleton is soft, but fibrous. 
The first of these, as the Gymnodontes, have 
the jaws shaped like the beak of a parrot, and 
composed 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 
