THE XYPHIAS GLADIUS. 



2\\ 



CLASS.— PISCES, OR ARCTIC FISHES. 



" Fish that through the wet 

 Sea-paths in shoals do slide, and know no dearth. 

 O Jehovah, our Lord, how wondrous great 

 And glorious is thy name through all the earth ! 



Milton.* 



ORDER.— APODES. 



GENUS.— XYPHIAS. 

 SPECIES— XYPHIAS GLADIUS COMMUNIS, 



OR 



THE COMMON SWORD-FISH. 



The common sword-fish is a native of the Mediterranean 

 and Sicilian Seas ; it grows to a very large size, sometimes 

 measuring twenty feet in length ; it is active and predacious, 



t Translation of the Eighth Psalm in the Magnet edition of Milton's 

 Poetical Works, with a Biographical Sketch of the Author, by H. W. 

 Dewhurst, p. 506, recently published. 



P 2 



