204 
The Hifiory of ANIMALS, 
Syngnathus cor pore quadrangulo , pinna caudee 
carens. 
The fquare-bodied Syngnathus , with no fin at 
the tail . 
This is an extreamly fmgular fpecies ; we fee it dried frequently in the fhops of 
druggifts and country apothecaries, who keep it as a curiofity j and people, not ac¬ 
quainted wi h this genus of fifties, would take it for any thing rather than a fifh: 
it’s tail ufually curls up in the drying, and the head, bent down, has fome rude refem- 
blance of that of a horfe j ’tis hence that the name Sea-horfe has been given it: as to 
the Greek name Hippocampus, thofe who gave it did not mean to exprefs any thing 
of the figure of a horfe by it j but, as they called the great ant Hippomurmex, and 
other large fpecies both of animals and vegetables were expreffed by the word Hippos 
prefixed to their name, they expreffed this, which they took, as they met with it 
dried, to be of the caterpillar kind, by the name of Hippocampus, the great caterpillar. 
It is five inches long, and in the largeft part is about half an inch in diameter; 
the head is long, flender, and compreffed, and forms a kind of fnout; the mouth is 
fmall j the eyes are very fmall, and there are two little apertures near them on each 
fide, which are the openings of the noftrils: juft: behind the orbits of the eyes there 
Hands on each fide a fhort protuberance, pointed at the extremity j and there are three 
other protuberances on the hinder part of the head, near the opening of the gills: the 
beginning of the back is acute, and the anus is fituated nearer the extremity of the 
tail than the head, which is not the cafe in the others: the body, from the head to the 
anus, is of a quadrangular figure, but the divifions are not equal, the lowed: being 
broadeft, and the upper one narrowed: of all; the lower one is, indeed, not flat but 
prominent in the middle, and, if clofely examined, is found to have three fmall angles 
or ridges, fo that this part of the body, accurately fpeaking, is heptangular: from the 
place of the anus to the end of the back fin the body is hexangular, but it is 
rather depreffed than compreffed tideways in this part: from the end of the back fin to 
the middle of the tail the figure is quadrangular or fquare, and, for a little way thence, 
it is pentangular 5 and, finally, from this part to the extremity it is fquare again, but 
the angles or ridges are placed contrariwife, in this part, to their direction on the body : 
the hinder part of the body is very fmall and flender, in proportion to the reft: • the 
whole body is covered with bony laminae: there are feventeen of thefe from the head 
to the anus $ from the anus to the extremity of the tail there are about forty-five : 
the extremity of the tail is pointed, and has no appearance of a fin ^ there is a long 
but low fin on the back, fupported by thirty-fix rays, and there are two fhort and 
rounded pedloral fins: the colour of the whole fifh, while living, is whitifh, with a 
caft: of green, but it becomes brown in drying. 
It is a native of the Mediterranean, but is not very frequent. All the naturalifts 
have mentioned it, though many of them have been much at a lofs to guefs to what 
clafs of animals it belonged ; which is indeed the more excufable, as very few have 
met with it otherwife than dried. It is generally called Hippocampus: Ray has called 
it Hippocampus Aculeatus; and fome authors have called it Zidrach. Thefe are all 
the known fpecies of the Syngnathus, or, as authors in general exprefs it, of the 
acus kind. 
C O B I T I S. 
%\)t 0? 
/"T"* H E head and the body of the Cobitis are both of a compreffed figure, and 
there are certain cirri or beards at the mouth : the body is fpotted, and the 
back fin, and thofe of the belly, are at the fame diftance from the extremity of the 
head. 
Cobitis tota glabra , maculofa , corpore fubtereti . 
The fmooth , fpotted Cobitis , with the body fomewhat rounded. 
This is about three inches in length, and of the thicknefs of a man’s little finger j 
it is very fmooth and foft to the touch, and is of a dufky olive brown, fpotted with a 
