348 NATUEAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



"Young Sword-fishes without ventral fins (Xiphias) undergo similar changes, and, besides, 

 their skin is covered with small, rough excrescences, longitudinally arranged, which continue to be 

 visible after the young fish has attained the form of the mature in other respects." 



Dr. Liitken's description of the young Sword-fishes is an exceedingly valuable contribution to 

 knowledge. 



I have collected together, in the plates which accompany this paper, the various published 

 figures of young Sword-fishes, and have had them redrawn as nearly as possible to a uniform 

 scale. 



Of the Sword-fish, Xiphias gladius, two figures are given. One, taken from Liitken's " Spolia 

 Atlantic*," is thirty-seven millimeters long; the other is a reproduction of the often-copied figure in 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes' ''Histoire Naturelle des Poissons," twelve to eighteen inches long. 

 Liitken had a similar specimen, ten millimeters long, but it was too poorly preserved to be figured. 



Of the various species of Tetrapturus and Histiophorus, six figures are given. The smallest 

 is that from "Spolia Atlantica," and is of a fish five and one- half millimeters long. Liitkeu 

 remarks that he has a series from five and one-half to twelve millimeters long which differ 

 very little from each other. The next in size is copied from Gunther, and is probably about ten 

 millimeters long; the third, also from Gunther, is fourteen millimeters long. Liitken has another 

 link in the series, a specimen twenty-one millimeters long, which he has not figured. The fourth 

 stage is from Gunther, a specimen sixty millimeters long ; the fifth, from Cuvier and Valenciennes, 

 their Histiophorus pulchellus, about four hundred and ten millimeters long ; the sixth, from Eiippell, 

 a copy of his figure of H. immaculatus, said to be about eighteen hundred millimeters long. 

 These illustrations show the development in a very satisfactory manner. 



ABUNDANCE AT PRESENT. For many years from three to six thousand of these fish have 

 been taken annually on the New England coast. It is not unusual for twenty-five or more to 

 be seen in the course of a single day's cruising, and sometimes as many as this are visible from 

 the mast-head at one time. Captain Ashby saw twenty at one time, in August, 1839, between 

 George's Banks and the South Shoals. One Gloucester schooner, the " Midnight," Capt. Alfred 

 Wixon, took fourteen in one day on George's Banks, in 1877. 



Capt. John Eowe obtained twenty barrels, or four thousand pounds, of salt fish on one trip to 

 George's Banks ; this amount represents twenty fish or more. 



Captain Ashby has killed one hundred and eight Swordrfish in one year; Capt. M. C. Tripp 

 killed about ninety in 1874. 



Such instances as these indicate in a general way the abundance of the Sword-fish. A vessel 

 cruising within fifty miles of our coast, between Cape May and Cape Sable, during the months 

 of June, July, August, and September, cannot fail, on a favorable day, to come in sight of several 

 of them. Mr. Earll states that the fishermen of Portland never knew them more abundant than 

 in 1879. This is probably, in part, due to the fact that the fishery there is of very recent origin. 



ABUNDANCE IN THE PAST AND PROBABILITY OP FUTURE DECREASE. There is no evidence 

 of any change in their abundance, either increase or decrease. Fishermen agree that they are as 

 plenty as ever, nor can any change be anticipated. The present mode of fishing does not destroy 

 them in any considerable numbers, each individual fish being the object of special pursuit. The 

 solitary habits of the species will always protect them from wholesale capture, so destructive to 

 schooling fish. Even if this were not the case, the evidence proves that spawning Sword-fish do 

 not frequent our waters. When a female shad is killed, thousands of possible young die also, 

 The Sword-fish taken by our fishermen carry no such precious burden. 



EFFECTS OF OVERFISHING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. A very different tale was once told of 



