RANGE OK THE SPEAU-FISII. 337 



to Southern New England, latitude 42 N. ; in the Eastern Atlantic, from Gibraltar, latitude 45 N., 

 to the Cape of Good Hope, latitude 30 S.; in the Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, New 

 Zealand, latitude 40 S., and on the west coast of Chili and Peru, fn a general way, the range is 

 lii-t ween latitude 40 N. and latitude 40 S. 



The species of Tetrapfitrns which we have been accustomed to call T. nlbirlux, abundant about 

 Cuba, is not very unusual on the coast of Southern New England. Several are taken every year 

 by the Sword-fish fishermen. I have not known of their capture along the Southern Atlantic 

 coast of the United States. All I have known about were taken between Sandy Hook and the 

 eastern part of George's Banks. 



The Mediterranean Spear-fish, Tetrapturus belone, appears to be a land-locked form, never 

 passing west of the Straits of Gibraltar. 



NAMES OF THE SWORD-FISH. The names all have reference to its most prominent feature, 

 the prolonged snout. The "Sword-fish" of our own tongue, the "Zwaard-Jis" of the Hollander, 

 the Italian "Sifio" and " Pesce-spada," the Spaniard's "Espada," "Expiidarti:," and varied by "Fez 

 de spada" in Cuba, and the French "Espadon," "Dard," and Epee tie jl/tr," are simply variations 

 of one theme, repetitions of the "Gladius" of ancient Italy, and "A'i>/(/ns," the name by which 

 Aristotle, the father of zoology, called the same fish twenty-three hundred years ago. The French 

 "Empereur," and the "Imperador" and "Ocean King-fish" of the Spanish and French West Indies, 

 carry out the same idea; the Roman emperor was always represented holding a drawn sword in 

 his hand. The Portuguese names are "Agulha" and "Agulhao? meaning " needle" or "needle-fish." 

 This species has been particularly fortunate in escaping the numerous redescriptions to which 

 almost all widely distributed forms have been subjected. By the writers of antiquity it was spoken 

 of under its Aristotelian name, and in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae, at the very 

 inception of binomial nomenclature, Linnaeus called it Xiphias glndiitx. By this name it has been 

 known ever since, and only one additional name is included in its synonymy, XipMas Rondeletii, 

 Leach. 



The Sword-fish has been so long and so well known that its right to its peculiar name has 

 seldom been infringed upon. The various species of Tetrapturiix have sometimes shared its title, 

 and this is not to be wondered at, since they closely resemble XipMax t/lmlhiN, and the appellative 

 has frequently been applied to the family Xipliiida' the Sword tish family which includes them all. 

 The name "Bill-fish," usually applied to the Tetrapturus albiilim, a tish of the Sword-fish family 

 often taken on our coast, and described below, is objectionable, since it is in many districts used for 

 the various species of Belonidce, the "gar-fishes" or "green-bones" (Belone truncate, and others), 

 which are members of the same fauna. " Spear-fish" is a much better name. 



The " Sail- fish," Histiophorm americamts, is called by sailors in the south the "Boohoo"or 

 " Woohoo." This is evidently a corrupted form of "Guebucu," a name, apparently of Indian origin, 

 given to the same fish in Brazil. It is possible that the Tetrapturus is also called "Boohoo," since 

 the two genera are not sufficiently unlike to impress sailors with their differences. Bleeker states 

 that in Sumaha the Malays call the related species H. gladim by the name " Joohoo" (Julni), a 

 curious coincidence. The names may have been carried from the Malay Archipelago to South 

 America, or vice versa, by neighbors. 



In Cuba the Spear-fishes are called "Aguja" and " Aguja de Prttoda"; the Sail-fish, "Aguja, 

 Prieta" or "Agvja Voladora"; Tetrapturus albidus is specially known as the "Aguja Blanca," 

 T. albidus as the "Agujade Casta." 



In the West Indies and Florida the scabbard-fish or silvery hair-tail, Trichiurus lepturus, a 

 form allied to the Xiphias, though not resembling it closely in external appearance, is often called 

 22 F 



