350 NATURAL HISTOEY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Mennier, 1 quoting Spallanzaui, states that the Sword-fish does not approach the coast of 

 Sicily except in the season of reproduction ; the males are then seen pursuing the females. It is a 

 good time to capture them, for when the female has been taken the male lingers near and is easily 

 approached." The fish are abundant in the Straits of Messina from the middle of April to the 

 middle of September; early in the season they hug the Calabrian shore, approaching from the 

 north ; after the end of June they are most abundant on the Sicilian shore, approaching from the 

 south. 



From other circumstances, it seems certain that there are spawning grounds in the sea near 

 Sicily and Genoa, for from November to the 1st of March young ones are taken in the Straits of 

 Messina, ranging in weight from half a pound to twelve pounds. 



ABSENCE OF ORDINARY HABITS OF BREEDING SEASON AMONG OUR SWORD-FISH. In the 

 Mediterranean, as has been already stated, the very young fish are found from November to March, 

 and here from July to the middle of September the male fish are seen pursuing the female over 

 the shoals, and at this time the males are easily taken. Old sword-fish fishermen, Captain Ashby 

 and Captain Kirby, assure me that on our coast, out of thousands of specimens they have taken, 

 they have never seen one containing eggs. I have myself dissected several males, none of which 

 were near breeding time. In the European waters they are said often to be seen swimming in 

 pairs, male and female. Many sentimental stories were current, especially among the older writers, 

 concerning the conjugal affection and unselfish devotion of the Sword-fish, but these seem to have 

 originated in the imaginative brain of the naturalist rather than in his perceptive faculties. It is 

 said that when the female fish is taken the male seems devoid of fear, approaches the boat, and 

 allows himself easily to be taken ; but, if this be true, it appears to be the case only in the height 

 of the breeding season, and is easily understood. I cannot learn that two Sword-fish have ever 

 been seen associated together in our waters, though I have made frequent and diligent inquiry. 



There is no inhereut improbability, however, in this story regarding the Sword-fish in Europe, 

 for the same thing is stated by Professor Poey as the result of his studies upon the habits of 

 Tetrapturus. 



A curious fancy was prevalent iu former days regarding an anatomical character of the Sword- 

 fish. In an article by Mr. Dale in "Philosophical Transactions" (abridged edition, ii, p. 835), he 

 remarks: " I cannot concede it to be consonant to that Care and Industry of Nature, in providing 

 convenient Receptacles for preserving the Foetus; neither is it agreeable to Reason to believe, that 

 when Nature had provided an Uterus in all Animals, not only the Viviparous, and such as only 

 cherish the Embryo in Utero, but in the Oviparous also and Insects, the Eel and the Xiphia, or 

 Sword-fish, should be the only Animals without it." 



ENEMIES AND FATALITIES : PUGNACITY. The pugnacity of the Sword-fish has become a 

 by-word. Without any special effort on my part the following instances of their attacks upon 

 vessels have in the last six years found their way into the pigeon-hole labeled "Sword-fish." 



^5elian says (b. xxxii, c. 6) that the Sword-fish has a sharp-pointed snout, with which it is 

 able to pierce the sides of a ship and send it to the bottom, instances of which have been known 

 near a place in Mauritania known as Cotte, not far from the river Lixus, on the African side of the 

 Mediterranean. He describes the sword as like the beak of the ship known as the trireme, which 

 was rowed with three banks of oars. 



One of the earliest accounts is that given in the second part of vol. i, lib. ii, p. 89, 1615, of 

 "Purchas his Pilgrimes": 



"The sixth Circum-Navigation, by William Cornelisou Schovten of Home; who Sovthwards 



1 Leg Qrandes PAches, p. 142. 



