356 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Considerable quantities of Sword-fish are annually salted in barrels in Portland, Gloucester, 

 Boston, New Bedford, and New London. Sword-fish pickled in brine is in considerable demand 

 in certain sections of the country, and particularly in Lower Connecticut Valley, where a barrel 

 may be found in almost every grocery store. By many persons it is considered much more 

 palatable than salted mackerel. 



THE SAIL-FISH HISTIOPHORUS AMEEICANTJS. 



Strange as it may seem, the American species of Hixtiophorvs has never been studied by an 

 ichthyologist, and no attempt has ever been made to describe it or to compare it carefully with 

 tbe similar species occurring in the Indian Ocean. The identity of the, two has been assumed 

 by Dr. Giiuther, 1 but since no American specimens have ever been seen by this authority, I hesi- 

 tate for the present to follow his lead. 



The history of the Sail-fish in ichthyological literature is as follows: 



The first allusion to the genus occurs in Piso's "Historia Naturalis Brasilia?," printed at 

 Amsterdam in 1648. In this book 2 may be found an identifiable though rough figure of the 

 American species, accompanied by a few lines of description, which, though good, when the fact 

 that they were written in the seventeenth century is brought to mind, are of no value for critical 

 comparison. 



The name given to the Brazilian Srnl-fish by Marcgrave, the talented young German who 

 described the fishes in the book referred to, and who afterward sacrificed his life in exploring the 

 unknown fields of American zoology, was Guebucu brasiliensibus. The use of the name Ouebitcu is 

 interesting, since it gives a clew to the derivation of the name li Boohoo," by which this fish, and 

 probably the Spear-fishes, are known to English-speaking sailors in the tropical Atlantic. 



Sail-fishes were observed in the East Indies by Renard and Valentijn, explorers of that region 

 from 1680 to 1720, and by other eastern voyagers. No species of the genus was, however, sys- 

 tematically described until 1-786, when a stuffed specimen from the Indian Ocean, eight feet long, 

 was taken to London, where it still remains in the collections of the British Museum. From this 

 specimen M. Bronssonet prepared a description, giving it the name Scomber gladius, rightly 

 regarding it as a species allied to the mackerel. 



In 1803 Lac6pede established the genus Histiophorus for the reception of this species. 



When Cuvier and Valenciennes published the eighth volume of their Natural History of 

 Fishes, they ignored the name gladius, which had been given to the East Indian fish by Brons- 

 sonet, redescribing it under the name Histiophorus indicus. At the same time they founded 

 another species upon the figure in Piso's Natural History of Brazil, already mentioned. This they 

 called Histiophorus americanus. 



'Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum, ii, 1860, p. 513. 



2 1648. Piso and MARCGUAVE : 



Historia Naturalis | Brasilia, | Anspicio et Beneficio | Illustrisa. | Manritii Com. Nassau | illius ProvinciiB nt 

 Maris summi Pnefeeti Adoruata: | In qua | Non tantnm Plantie et Animalia, sed et In- | digenarum morbi, iugeiiia et 

 mores describuntur et | Iconibus qungentns illustrantnr | (Elaborate engraved title-page, upon which the preceding 

 inscription is inserted upon a scroll, the following upon a shell. ) Lvgdvn Batauorum, | Apnd Franciscum Hackinm, | 

 t | Amstolodami, | Apud Lud. Elzevirium. 1648. | 1 pp. (12), 122, (2), (8), 2'.I3, (7). 



Second litli . 



iJuilirlini Pisoiiis, M. D. | Lugduuo-Batavi, | de Medicina Brasiliensi | Libri Qnatuor: | I. De Ae're, Aquis & 

 Locis | II. De, Morbis Endemiis. | III. Venenatis & Antidotis. | IV. De Facultatibus Simplicium | et Georgi Marr- 

 gravi de Liebstad, | Misnici Germani, | Historian Rerum Naturaliuui | Brasilia) | Libri octo: | Quorum | Tres prioros 

 aguut do Plautis. | Quartus de Piscibus. | Quintus de Avibus. | Sextus de Quadrupedibtis &Serpentibus. | Septimus dn 

 Insectis. | Octavus de Ipsa Regione, & Illius Incolis. | Cum | Appeudice de Tapuyis, et, Chilensibus. | lontiiics dn 

 Lfet, | Autwerpianns. | In ordinem digessit & Annotationes addidit, & varies ab Auctore | Omisaa supplnvil, & 

 llustravit. 



