2 4 o . / M ERICA N FISHES. 



the Spaniards " Espada," and " Espadarte," varied by " Pez despada" 

 in Cuba; and the French " Espadon," " jDard" and " Epee de Mer," 

 are simply variations of one theme, repetitions of the " Gladius" of an- 

 cient Italy, and " Xiphius," the name by which Aristotle the father of 

 zoology, called the same fish twenty-three hundred years ago. The French 

 " E/upereur," and the " Imperador," and "Ocean King-fish" of the 

 Spanish and French West Indies, carry out the same idea, for the Roman 

 emperor was always represented holding a drawn sword in his hand. The 

 Portuguese names are " Agulha," " Agulhao," meaning "needle" or 

 " needle-fish." 



This species has been particularly fortunate in escaping the numerous 

 redescriptions to which almost all widely distributed forms have been sub- 

 jected. By the writers of antiquity, it was spoken of under its Aristotelian 

 name, and in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae, at the very inception 

 of binomial nomenclature, Linnaeus called it Xiphias gladius. By this 

 name it has been known ever since, and only one additional name is 

 included in its synonymy, Xiphias Rondeletii of Leach. 



The sword-fish has been so long and so well known that its right to its 

 peculiar name has seldom been infringed upon. The various species of 

 Tetrapturus have sometimes shared its title, and this is not to be wondered 

 at, since they closely resemble Xiphias gladius, and the appellative has 

 frequently been applied to the family XiphiidcB — the Sword-fish family — 

 which includes them all. 



The name '•' Bill-fish," usually applied to the Tetrapturus albidus, a fish 

 of the Sword-fish family often taken on our coast, must be pronounced 

 objectionable, since it is in many districts used for the various species of 

 Belonidce, the "gar-fishes" or "green-bones" {Be lone truncata and 

 others), which are members of the same faunas. " Spear-fish " is a much 

 better name. 



The "Sail-fish," Histiophorus americanus, is called by sailors in the 

 south the " Boohoo " or " Woohoo." This is evidently a corrupted form 

 of "Guebucu," a name, apparently of Indian origin, given to the same 

 fish in Brazil. It is possible that the Tetrapturus is also called " Boohoo," 

 since the two genera are not sufficiently unlike to impress sailors with 

 their differences. Bleeker states that in Sumatra the Malays call the re- 

 lated species, H. gladius, by the name " Joohoo " {Juhu), a curious 

 coincidence. The names may have been carried from the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, to South America, or vice versa, by mariners. 



