PIPE AND

See also:

• TABOR

TABOR (Fr. galoubet; Ger. Schwegel or Stamenlienpfeiff)  , a popular medieval combination of a small pipe or flageolet, and a small drum . The pipe consists of a cylindrical tube of narrow bore, pierced with three holes, two in front and one at the back, all very near the end of the pipe; and of a mouthpiece of the kind known as whistle, fipple or beak common to the fl4tes d tee or recorder family . The compass of this instrument, with no more than three holes, exceeds two octaves in the hands of a good player, and is chromatic throughout . The fundamental notes of the open pipe and of the three holes cannot be produced; the scale consists, therefore, entirely of harmonics, the and, 3rd and 4th of the series being easily obtained, and, by half stopping the holes, also the semitones which are required to complete the chromatic scale . The tabor being fastened to the performer's left elbow, the hands remained free, the right beating the little drum with a stick to mark die rhythm, while the left held and fingered the pipe with thumb and first two fingers . 1sdersenne mentions a wonderful virtuoso, John Price, who could rise to the twenty-second on the galoubet . Praetorius mentions and figures three sizes of the Stamentienpfeiff, the treble 20 in. long, the tenor 26 in. and the bass 30, the last being played by means of a crook about 23 in. long . A specimen of the bass in the museum of the Brussels Conservatoire has for its lowest note middle C . The pipe and tabor are said to be of Provencal origin; it is certain that they were most popular in France, England and the Netherlands, and they figure largely among the musical and social scenes in the illuminated MSS. of those countries . (K . S.) PIPE-FISHES (Syngnathina), small fishes, which with the Sea-horses form a distinct family, Syngnathidae, of Lophobranchiate Thoracostei . The name is derived from the peculiar form of their snout, which is produced into a more or less long tube, ending in a narrow and small mouth which opens upwards and is toothless .

The

body and tail are long and thin, snake-like, encased in hard integuments which are divided into regularly arranged segments . This dermal skeleton shows several longitudinal ridges, so that a vertical section through the body represents an angular figure, not round or oval as in the majority of other fishes . A dorsal fin is always present, and is the principal (in some species, the only) organ of locomotion . The ventral fins are as constantly absent, and the other fins may or may not be developed . The gill-openings are extremely small and placed near the upper posterior angle of the gill-cover . Most of the pipe-fishes are marine, only a few being fluviatile . Pipe-fishes are abundant on such coasts of the tropical and temperate zones as offer by their vegetation shelter to these defenceless creatures . They are very bad swimmers, slowly moving through the water by means of the rapid undulatory movement of the dorsal fin . Their tail, even when provided with a caudal fin, is of no use in swimming, and not prehensile as in sea-horses . Specimens, therefore, are not rarely found at a great distance from land, having been resistlessly carried by currents into the open ocean; one species, Syngnathus pelagicus, has an extraordinarily wide range over the tropical seas, and is one of the common fishes inhabiting the vegetation of the Sargasso Sea . The colour of these fishes often changes with the sea-weeds among which they may be found, passing from brown to green or even brick-red . In pipe-fishes the male is provided with a pouch—in some species on the abdomen, in others on the lower side of the tail—in which the ova are lodged during their development .

This marsupial pouch is formed by a

fold of the skin developed from each side of the trunk or tail, the free margins of the fold being firmly united in the median line throughout the period during which the eggs are being hatched . When the young are hatched the folds separate, leaving a wide slit, by which the young gradually escape when quite able to take care of themselves . Nearly a hundred different species of pipe-fishes are known, of which Siphonostoma typhle, Syngnathus acus (the Great Pipe-fish up to 18 in. in length), Nerophis aequoreus (Ocean Pipe-fish), Nerophis ophidion (Straightnosed Pipe-fish), and Nerophis lumbriciformis (Little Pipe-fish) are British species . The last three are destitute of a caudal fin . A review of the extensive literature on the breeding habits of the Syngnathidae is given by E . W . Gudger, " The Breeding habits and the Segmentation of the Egg of the Pipefish," Proc . U.S . Nat . Mus . (1905), xxix .