ACANTH0PTERYG1I. 347 



M. Rafinesque thinks that the silvery powder which covers 

 this fish might be employed to colour false pearls, and tells 

 us that he himself made from it an ink of the colour of silver. 



This lepidopus is tormented by many species of intestinal 

 worms. Montagu found under the skin, along the dorsal region, 

 some echinorhinchi, and on the rest of the body abundance of 

 ascarides, rolled into a spiral form. M. Holten has repre- 

 sented a tetrarhyncus, which was also found in great quan- 

 tities by M. Cuvier in the abdominal cavity, as well as an 

 equal multitude of filaria. They even filled certain portions 

 of the mesentery and the peritoneum. 



The name of Trichiurus, which means hair-tail, was 

 not given to this genus until 1757, in the second edition of 

 the Systema Naturae. It had previously been called lepturus 

 by Linnaeus, from Artedi, who first established the genus, and 

 yymnog aster, from Gronovius. 



The trichiurus of the Atlantic, {lepturus) was very errone- 

 ously supposed to be a fresh-water fish, and found in the 

 lakes of South America. It is, however, now incontestibly 

 established by M. Cuvier, that the trichiurus is taken in the 

 sea. His numerous correspondents from a variety of places 

 have confirmed this fact beyond all controversy *. 



It is common on the coasts of Porto Rico, and also on those 

 of Cuba. The Spaniards of Cuba name it sable (sabre), and 

 those of Monte Video, Pes-espada, (sword-fish). The latter 

 name is also given to it by our countrymen in Jamaica. Dr. 

 Mitchill calls it hair-tail, which is only a translation of its 

 scientific name, and would seem to prove that the species is 



1 It is proper to acquaint the ichthyological student that M. Lacepede's 

 eloquent account of this fish, which he supposes to be of the fresh- water, 

 is totally inapplicable to it. He has been implicitly followed in the 

 " Diet, des Sciences Naturelles" (art. Ceinture), where the Asiatic species 

 are also confounded with lepturus. 



