PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 423 

 Measurements — Continued. 



Current number of specimen. 

 Locality 



Caudal : 



Lengtli of middle rays 



Lciiiitb i>f external rays 



Distance between lobe tips 



Pectoral : 



Distance from snout 



Length 



Ventral : 



Distance from snout 



Length of groove from base of ventrals to vent. 



Dorsal 



A nal 



Caudal 



Pectoral 



Ventral , 



Weight, dressed (pounds) 

 Number of vertebrae: 



Dorsal 



Caudo-lumbivr 



A. 



B. 



New Bedford, "Wood's Holl, 



Mass., July 

 25, 1875. 



Inches. 



2.00 

 16.00 



28.50 

 14.75 



10.00 

 40+G 



n+e 



6+4+4+5 



18 



1 



554 



11 

 13 



Mass., 1875. 



Inches. 



29.00 

 13.50 



00.50 

 18.50 

 39+5 

 14+6 



Genus Hisiiophorus Lacepede. 



<^Isiiophorns, Lacepkde, Hist. Nut. Poiss. iii, 1803, p. 374. 

 <^Hl8tiophorus, Cuvirk & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. viii, 1833, 291. 

 <^Histiophorus, GtiNTHEn, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mns. ii, 1860, ]). 512. 

 NolisUum, Hermann, Ol)serv. Zool. 1804, p. 305. 



Diagnosis of genus. 



Xiphiid, tetrapturine fishes, with body slender and very much com- 

 pressed. Dorsal single (though the last few rays are nearly abortive), 

 retaining the character of extreme youth, which is lost in Xiphias and 

 Tetraptnrus.1 and very lofty. Vertebree 24 {H. indicus). Anal tin double. 

 Numerous tooth-like aspeiities on the jaws. Body covered with elon- 

 gate scales. Dorsal rays, being unaborted, very numerous. Ventrals 

 consisting each of two or three elongate rays. Intestine short, nearly 

 straight, with two foldings. A single species in the United States, 

 Histiophorus americaniis, Cuvier. 



9. Histiophorus gladius (Broussonet), Lacepede. 



Scomber gladiiis, Bkoussonet, Mem. Acad. Sci. 1786, p. 454, pi. s. 



<^Scomher (/ladiu.s, Blocii, lebthyology, pi. eccxlv: Hist. Nat. Poiss 



<^Istioplioy us gladius, LACEPi;DE, "iii, pp. 374-5", 2d ed. 8°, 1819, p. 542. 



Histiophorus f/ladius, Gunther, 1. c. p. 513. — GiLL, 11. c. 



<^Xiphias velifer, Schneider, 1. c. p. 9.5. 



Histiophorus indicus, Cuv. &. Val. 1. c. p. 293, pi. coxxix. 



This species, described first by Broussonet from specimens brought 

 from the Indies — "la nier des Indes" — by Banks, has usually been con- 

 sidered, i)erhax)s rightly, by later authors to be identical with the Ameri- 

 can form. 



