RANGE OF SWORD-FISH IN WESTERN ATLANTIC. 341 



Mr. J. Matthew Jones, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, writes, in 1877: "The Sword-fish is by no 

 means common on our coast, and only makes its appearance at intervals in our harbors and bays. 

 One was taken in 1864 in Bedford Basin, at the head of Halifax Harbor. September 6, 18G6, an 

 individual weighing two hundred pounds was taken in a net at Devil's Island. November 12, 

 I860, the Rev. J. Ambrose sent me a sword, three feet and six inche.s long, from a fish taken at 

 Dover, Nova Scotia, a few days previously." 



On the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island they abound in the summer months. 

 Southward they are less frequently seen, though their occurrence off New York is not unusual. I 

 have never known one to be taken off New Jersey, and in our southern waters they do not appear 

 to remain. Uhler and Lugger vaguely state that they sometimes enter the Chesapeake Bay. 1 

 This is apparently traditionary evidence. 



Dr. Yarrow obtained reliable information of their occasional appearance near Cape Lookout, 

 North Carolina. 2 



Mr. A. W. Simpson states, in a letter to Professor Baird, that Sword-fish are sometimes seen 

 at sea off Cape Hatteras, in November and December, in large quantities. They sometimes find 

 their way into the sounds. 



An item went the rounds of the newspapers in 1876 to the effect that a Sword-fish four feet 

 long had been captured in the Saint John's River, near Jacksonville. After personal inquiry in 

 Jacksonville, I am satisfied that this was simply a scabbard-fish or silvery hair-tail (Trichiurus 

 leptvrus). 



Professor Poey states that the fishermen of Cuba sometimes capture the Fez de Espada when 

 in pursuit of Agujas or Spear-fishes. 3 They have also been seen in Jamaica. 



Liitken gives instances of the capture of young Sword-fish at various points in the open 

 Atlantic, as follows : 



(1) Latitude 32 50' N., longitude 74 19' W. (about 150 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras). 



(2) Latitude 23 W., longitude 55 W. (about 500 miles northeast of the island of Antigua). 



(3) Latitude 20 N., longitude 31 W. (about 150 miles northwest of Teneriffe, and 250 

 southwest of Madeira). 



(4) On the equator, longitude 29 (about 500 miles northeast of Cape St. Roque). 



(5) Latitude 25 4' S., longitude 27 26' W. (about 500 miles south of the island of Trinidad, 

 South Atlantic). 



OCCURRENCE IN THE PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEANS. We have no record of their occurrence 

 on the eastern coast of South America, but the species is found on the Pacific coast of the same 

 continent, and north to California. 



Professor Jordan writes : " Occasionally seen about Santa Catalina and the Coronados, but 

 never taken, the fishermen having no suitable tackle. One seen by us off' Santa Monica, in 1880, 

 about eight feet in length." 



Mr. Willard Nye, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, kindly communicates the following notes: 

 Captain Dyer, of this port, says that Sword-fish are plentiful off' the Peruvian coast, a number 

 being often in sight at one time. The largest he ever saw was one caught by himself about 150 

 miles from the shore, and which he estimates to have weighed 900 to 1,000 pounds ; the ship's 

 crew subsisted on it for several days and then salted 400 pounds. 



1 List of the Fishes of Maryland. By P. B. Uhler and Otto Lugger, iu Report of tlio Commissioners of Fisheries of 

 Maryland, January, 1876, p. 90. 



1 Notes on the Natural History of Fort Macon, North Carolina, and vicinity (No. 3). By II. C. Yarrow, in Pro- 

 ceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1877, p. 207. 



'Synopsis Piscium Cubensium, Catlilogo razonado de log Peces de la Isla de Cuba, in Repertorio fisico-natural 

 de la Isla de Cuba, ii, 1868, p. 379. 



