202 
The Hiftory of ANIMALS. 
The fifth, under the name of Plaguiri, comprehends thofe which have the tail not per - 
pendicular, but placed in an horizontal direction. This is fo remarkable a char abler, 
that there needs nothing farther to diflinguifi the feries. 
The Fifes, comprehended under Jorne of thefeferies, admit no farther fubdivifion into 
clafes, all of them agreeing in their more general characters 5 but thofe of others, and 
particularly the very numerous ones arranged under the Acanthopterygious and Malacop- 
terygious feries, have natural and obvious claffical diJlinCiions under thofe of the feries , 
and above the genericaL 
Malacopterygious Fifhes , or thofe whofe fins are not prickly • 
Clafs the Fir ft. 
MESOPTERYGIL 
Thofe which have only one back fin y and that fituated in the middle of 
the back. 
SYNGNATHUS. 
T H E body of the Syngnathus is long and very {lender; fometimes it is round¬ 
ed, but in moft of the fpecies it is angulated : the fins are in fome fpecies four, 
but in others there is only one : the head is of an oblong figure, and comprefled ; 
the jaws are clofed together at the fides, and the mouth has only a fmall opening, 
which is quite at the extremity : the coverings of the gills are compofed, each, only 
of one fimple and very thin bony lamina. 
Syngnathus teres pinnis pe&oralibus caudeeque carens . 
The rounded-bodied Syngnathus , with no peEloral nor 
tail fitts. 
aBBet. 
This, of all the known fillies, has the lead: appearance of one, and ferves properly 
to connect the infect and filh tribe : our people in Cornwal, who have given it the 
name of the Sea-adder, exprefs their fenfe of it’s refemblance to the ferpent-kind, but 
it much more, in reality, refembles the worm-kind: it’s length is about nine inches, 
and it’s thicknefs is hardly that of a common earth-worm : the head is very long, flen- 
der, and comprefied, and the opening of the mouth is very fmall j the lower jaw is 
fomewhat longer than the upper, and is moveable, and naturally turns up fo, that the 
opening of the mouth feems to have a kind of operculum : the body is of a rounded 
but fomewhat compreffed figure, and it’s colour is a dufky grey, with a tinge of green- 
ifh: the eyes are fmall, and are placed very backward in the head; their iris is 
yellow : the noftrils are two on each fide ; they are fmall apertures near the eyes, but 
are not eafily feen, unlefs in the full-grown filh $ there are no teeth : the coverings of 
the gills are not open at the lower edge, as in other fifhes, but there are two apertures 
higher up in the neck, at the fummit of thefe: they are very fmall openings, and 
fcarce exceed the holes made by thrufiing a large needle through a piece of paper: 
there are no fcales, but the body is naked, and is divided into a kind of rings, like the 
body of an earth-worm : the anus is nearly in the middle of the body, but a little 
nearer the tail than the head j there is no fin at the tail, but it terminates in a fine, 
{lender point, fcarce thicker than a large thread : there is only one fin, and that is 
placed on the middle of the back ; it is formed of a thin, whitifh membrane, fup- 
ported by thirty-four fine, {lender rays: the branchiae appear to be four on each fide, 
or rather there runs a pulmonary vifcus of a reddifh colour, down each fide of the 
throat. 
This lingular filh is an inhabitant of the Northern Seas in confiderable abundance ; 
we have it in great plenty on the coafis of Yorkfhire, and other places. Willughy 
calls it Acus Lumbriciformis j and Ray, Ophidion Lumbriciforme. The people in 
Yorkfhire call it the Sea-worm 5 but it is more generally known in England by it’s 
Cornifh name of the Sea-add’er,. though the former is the more exprefiive.' 
Syngnathus 
