426 PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



occurring- in the Indian Ocean. The identity of the two has been 

 assumed by Dr. Giiuther,* but since no American specimens have ever 

 been seen by this authority, I hesitate for the present to follow his lead. 



This history of the Sail-fish in ichthyological literature is as follows : 



The first allusion to the genus occurs in Piso's " Historia IsTuturalis 

 Brazilian", printed at Amsterdam, in 1048. In this bookt may be found 

 an identifiable though rough figure of the American species, accom- 

 panied by a few lines of description, wbicli, though good, when the 

 fact that they were w^ritten in the seventeenth century is brought to 

 mind, are of no value for critical comi)arison. 



The name given to the Brazilian Sail-fish by Marcgrave, the talented 

 young German who described tlje fishes in the book referred to, and 

 who afterwards sacrificed his life in exploring the unknown fields of 

 American zoology, was Guebucu hrasiliensibus. The use of the name 

 Onehucn is interesting, since it gives a clue to tbe derivation of the 

 name "Boohoo," by which this fish, and probably the Spear-fishes, are 

 known to English-speaking sailors in the trojjical Atlantic. 



Sail-fishes were observed in the East Indies by Eenard and Valeutijn, 

 explorers of that region from 1680 to 1720, and by other eastern voy- 

 agers. No species of the genus was, however, systematically described 

 until 1780, when a stuffed specimen from the Indian Ocean, eight feet 

 long, was taken to London, where it still remains in the collections of 

 the British Museum. From this specimen M. Broussonet prepared a. 

 description, giving it the name Scomber gladkis, rightly regarding it as 

 a species allied to mackerel. 



In 1803 Lacepede established the genus Histiophorus for the recep- 

 tion of this species. 



When Cuvier and Valenciennes published the eighth volume of their 

 Natural History of Fishes they ignored the name fjladius, which had 

 been given to the East Indian fish by Broussonet, redescribing it under 



* Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum, ii, 1860, p. 513. 



1 1648, Piso ami Marcgrave. 



Historia Naturalis | Braziliie, | Anspicio et Beneficio | Ilhistrisa | Maurittii Com. 

 Nassau | illius Provincias et Maris summi Prsefecti Adoruata: | lu qua | Non tautum 

 Phxut^Tb et Auimalia, sed et In- | digenarum morbi, ingenia et mores describuutnr et | 

 Icouibus quugeutus illustrautur | (Elaborate engraved title-page, upon which the 

 preceding inscription is inserted upon a scroll, the following upon a shell:) Lvgyn 

 Batauorum, | Apud Franciscum Hackium | et | Amstelodami, | Apud Lud. Elzevirium 

 1648 I pp. (1-2) 122 (2) (8) 293 (7). 



SECOND TITLE. 



Guilielmi Pisonis, M. D. | Lugduno-Batavi, | de Medicina Braziliensi | Libri Qua- 

 tuor : I I De Acre, Aquis & Locis | II De Morbis Eudemiis. | III De Veuenatis & Anti- 

 dotis. I IV De facultatibus Simplicium | et Georgi Marcgravi de Liebstad I Misnici 

 Germaiii, | Historiie Rerum Natnralium | Brazilia;, [ Libri octa: | Quorum | Tres 

 l)uorea agunt de plantis | Quartus de Piscibus. | Quiutus de Avibus. | Sestus de Qua- 

 drupedibus & Serpentibus | Septimus de Insectis. | Octavus de Ipsa Eegione, &. Illius 

 Incolis. I Cum | Appendice de Tapuyis, et Chilensibus | loannes de Last, | Autwerp- 

 ianus, | In ordiuem digessit & Anuotationes addidit, & varies ab Auciore | Omissa 

 supplevit & illustravit. 



