420 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY - IV. 



pectoral fins moderate, falcate. Skin naked, more or less rough, es- 

 pecially in the young, which have rudimentary scales. Sword flattened. 

 Caudal keel single. Intestines long, sinuons. Air-bladder simple. Pel- 

 vic arch obsolete. Fishes of great size, reaching a weight of 300 to 400 

 pounds, the flesh valued for food. (^'<r, the ancient name of Xiphiats 

 glaflhts, from $i<fs, a sword.) 



662. X. gladiois L. Common Sword-fish. 



Very dark bluish above, dusky below; "sword" almost black above, 

 below lighter. Cleft of mouth extending beyond eye. Head about 2 ; 

 depth about 5. Snout 3 in length. D. 40-4; A. 18-14. Vert. 14+12. 

 Atlantic Ocean, on both coasts ; also in the Pacific, north to the Santa 

 Barbara islands. 



(Linn. Syst. Nat.; Gunther, ii, 511; Storer, Fish. Mass. 1867, 71. 



21O. TETRAPTUKUS Rafinesque. 



Spear Fishes. 



(Rafinesque, Iiulice cl'Ittiol. Sicil. 1810, 30: type Tetraptitrus belone Raf. of the Medit- 

 erranean. ) 



Sword-fishes with small teeth in the jaws and on the palatines, with 

 the ventral tins represented each by a single spine, and with the dorsal 

 fin not greatly elevated, divided in the adult, its height not greater 

 than the depth of the body. Body much compressed. Skin with rudi- 

 mentary embedded scales; sword rounded; caudal keel double. Air- 

 bladder sacculated. Vertebra 12 + 12. Intestine short, straight. 

 four; xTSfxj-;, wing; <7'W, tail, from the wing-like caudal keels.) 



663. T. :ilB>idus I'oey. Ilill-Jixh ; Spear-fish; Aguja Jllanca. 



Dark blue above; whitish beneath; fins dark blue. Nape elevated, 

 the greatest depth of the body opposite the opercle. Eye midway be- 

 tween opercle and tip of lower jaw. Dorsal inserted in front of base of 

 pectorals. Caudal forked at an angle of 70 to 80 degrees. Head (to 

 end of upper jaw) L'-; : depth 7-S. Length of caudal lobes 4i. D. IIF, 

 39-i J; A. II, 1:5-0. Length 7 to 8 feet, (Poet/.) Cape Cod to West 

 Indies : not rare on our coast. 



(Poey, Mrni. ii,-j:;7: 1 Tetorapturwltelone'Raf, J[i><ti<>i>horuH bclone Gunthcr, ii, 513.) 



661. T. aaiiplns I'm-y. .I.'/"./" '''' <"<ix/rt. 



Color dark bine; paler below, with bluish cross streaks. Body stouter, 

 more convex at the nape, the greatest depth being behind the oper- 

 cle. Caudal forked at anangle of 90 to 100 degrees. Dorsal inserted 



