114 A HISTORY OF FISHES 



(Fig. 6). The teeth in the jaws are small and numerous, 

 extending forward on to the lower surface of the sword. The 

 Common Sword-fish (Xiphias) is widely distributed in all warm 

 seas, and grows to a length of fifteen to twenty feet. Its food 

 seems to consist largely of fishes, and it is said to split large 

 forms like the Bonito and Albacore with the sword, or to strike 

 with lateral movements among a shoal of small fishes, after- 

 wards devouring the stunned and wounded victims. Instances 

 of men being attacked and wounded have been recorded, and 

 in Daniel's Rural Sports it is stated that "in the Severn near 

 Worcester, a man bathing was struck and absolutely received 

 his death wound from a Sword-fish." Many are the tales told 

 of ships damaged or even sunk by the attacks of these fishes, 

 but in most of the stories no attempt has been made to dis- 

 criminate between Sword-fishes, Spear-fishes, and Sail-fishes, 

 all of which have similar habits. There can be no doubt that 

 they sometimes succeed in piercing the bottom of a boat, and, 

 being unable to carry out the necessary reversing movements, 

 are compelled to break ofif the sword in order to get away. In 

 the museum of the College of Surgeons is a section of the bow 

 of a whaler in which is impaled a sword a foot in length and 

 five inches in circumference, which had penetrated through 

 thirteen and a half inches of wood; in another specimen of 

 ship's timber in the British Museum the transfixed sword has 

 been thrust through no less than twenty- two inches. Another 

 case on record concerns the ship Dreadnought, which suddenly 

 sprang a leak on its voyage from Ceylon to London, and on 

 examination it was found that a hole about an inch in diameter 

 had been neatly punched in the copper sheathing of the vessel. 

 When a claim was duly made, the insurance company denied 

 their liability, holding that the damage had been caused by 

 some agent other than a fish, but when the case was taken to 

 court the jury returned a verdict that the damage had been 

 brought about "by contact with some substance other than 

 water," and added a rider that it was probably caused by a 

 Sword-fish. It is open to grave doubt, however, whether these 

 attacks on ships are deliberate, although it is freely stated that, 

 since Sword-fishes have been described as attacking Whales in 

 company with Killers, the fish merely mistakes the ship for a 

 Whale. It seems more probable that the occurrences are no 

 more premeditated than, say, a head-on collision between 

 two powerful motor-cars, and may be due to similar causes, 

 namely, an inability to apply the brakes in time. It has 



