Note 244 — Chapter VII
W. (William) Falconer translation
The Syngathus Hippocampus of Linnæus, from ἵππος, a horse, and κάμπη, a caterpillar. It obtained its name from the supposed resemblance of its head to a horse and of its tail to a caterpillar. From this is derived the fiction of sea-monsters in attendance upon the marine deities. It is, however, but a small animal, abundant in the Mediterranean. The head, especially when dried, is like that of a horse. Pliny, b. xxxii. c. 9—11. Ælian, De Nat. Anim. b. xiv. c. 20.