SWORD-FISH, SPEAR-FISH AND CUTIASS-FISH. 243 



grooves, the absence of ventrals, the long, lithe, muscular body, sloping 

 slowly to the tail, fit it for the most rapid and forcible movement through 

 the water. Prof. Richard Owen, testifying in an England court in regard 

 to its power, said : 



" It strikes with the accumulated force of fifteen double-handed ham- 

 mers. Its velocity is equal to that of a swivel-shot, and is as dangerous 

 in its effects as a heavy artillery projectile." 



Many very curious instances are on record of the encounters of this fish 

 with other fishes, or of their attacks upon ships. What can be the 

 inducement for it to attack objects so much larger than itself it is hard to 

 surmise. We are all familiar with the couplet from Oppian : 



Nature her bounty to his mouth confined, 



Gave him a sword, but left unarmed his mind. 



It surely seems as if a temporary insanity sometimes takes possession of 

 the fish. It is not strange that, when harpooned, it should retaliate by 

 attacking its assailant. An old sword-fish fisherman told Mr. Blackford 

 that his vessel had been struck twenty times. There are, however, many 

 instances of entirely unprovoked assault on vessels at sea. Many of these 

 are recounted in a later portion of this memoir. Their movements when 

 feeding are discussed below, as well as their alleged peculiarities of move- 

 ment during the breeding season. 



It is the universal testimony of our fishermen that two are never seen 

 swimming close together. Capt. Ashby says that they are always distant 

 from each other at least thirty or forty feet. 



The pugnacity of the Sword-fish has become a by-word. Without any 

 special effort on my part numerous instances of their attacks upon 

 vessels have in the last ten years found their way into the pigeon-hole 

 labeled "Sword-fish." 



^elian says (b. xxxii, c. 6) that the Sword-fish has a sharp-pointed 

 snout, with which it is able to pierce the sides of a ship and send it to the 

 bottom, instances of which have been known near a place in Mauritania 

 known as Cotte, not far from the river Lixus, on the African side of the 

 Mediterranean. He describes the sword as like the beak of the ship 

 known as the trireme, which was rowed with three banks of oars. 



The "London Daily News" of December 11, 1868, contained the 

 following paragraph, which emanated, I suspect, from the pen of Prof. 

 R. A. Proctor: 



