XIPHIID^E. 143 



Third group Xiphiiformes. 

 The snout and upper jaw is produced into a long sword-shaped weapon. 



Family, XIV XIPHIIDiE, Agassis. 



The sword-fishes. 



Branchiostegals seven: pseudobranchiae present. Eyes lateral. Body com- 

 pressed, the upper jaw (comprising ethmoid, vomer, and pre-maxillaries) 

 produced into a long sword-shapsd process: cleft of mouth deep. Teeth, when 

 present, rudimentary. Scales absent or in the form of rudimentary dermal 

 productions. Air-bladder present. Pyloric appendages numerous, when present. 



These fishes are divisible into two distinct genera, Xiphias, destitute of ventral 

 fins and having a somewhat flattened snout : and the more tropical Histiophorus, 

 which possesses ventral fins, while its snout is more or less of a triangular shape. 

 The fry of these fishes are likewise capable of being discriminated. The 

 young in Xiphias has its jaws elongated, the two being of nearly equal length : 

 also the supraorbital region as well as the angle of the preopercle spinate, 

 while the forehead has not the abrupt depression that exists in Histiophorus. This 

 latter has large spines at the occiput and angle of the preopercle. Davy observes 

 that the specific gravity of the blood of the sword-fish he found to be P051 

 taken from a large one caught in the Bosphorous during the month of 

 December. 



In the European seas and extending into those of the tropics there exist the 

 sword-fishes (Xtphiidj:), which are well known to attack whales, and occasionally 

 vessels, which they would appear to mistake for their gigantic opponents, and 

 some authors have even believed that they will vent their spleen upon rocks, 

 perhaps mistaking such for the sides of their hereditary antagonists. These fishes 

 attain to a very large size, as 15 feet or (some assert) 20 feet or more in length. 

 There may be two ways in which the foundering of a ship is occasioned when 

 pierced by these creatures either a leak may be at once set up, or else the 

 perforating snout may act as a plug, not permitting leakage until decomposition 

 has set in or the salt water has softened the bones. 



In 1874 the " Cashmere," a new steamer, of about 1400 tons burden, was nearly 

 lost, owing to an injury inflicted by a sword-fish. The vessel was on her course from 

 Bombay to Calcutta, when, without any apparent cause, she began to make water, 

 while all attempts to discover the cause of the leak were futile, until, after the 

 removal of a large part of the cargo, the lightened ship rose in the water, and a 

 piece of the snout of a sword-fish was observed. This had pierced the copper and 

 timber of the ship and penetrated some 9 or 10 inches beyond, breaking off close 

 to the copper, probably from the impossibility of withdrawing it. The sword 

 had not merely pierced the ship, but split the plank for a considerable distance 

 on each side of the point of contact. In this instance there could have been no 

 doubt that a leak had occurred, while an examination of the ship demonstrated 

 that it had been entirely clue to the injury inflicted by one of these fishes. 



The ship " Royal George," of about 500 tons burden, experienced a dreadful 

 hurricane in the Bay of Bengal. So furious was the tempest, that, in addition 

 to the loss of the main and mizen masts, the bowsprit was found broken off close 

 to the hull of the vessel. Its diameter was 23 inches, and, on examining its base, 

 the snout of a sword-fish was found projecting about 6 inches beyond the 

 surface. A similar occurrence took place in 1833, and the perforated planks, 

 with the imbedded sword, were presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and 

 are now in the Calcutta Museum. 



The British Museum possesses a specimen of planks from a ship's side, in 

 which may be seen the sword of one of these fishes, which has penetrated 

 22 inches into the timber. In the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons is the 



