PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 427 



the name llistiopliorus indicus. At the same time they founded another 

 species npon the ti-gure in Piso's Katnral History of Brazil, ah^eady 

 mentioned. This they called HistiopJiorus americamis. 



In a paper printed in 1833, Dr. ISTardo, of Venice, proposed the estab- 

 lishment of a new genus allied to Tetrapturtis and Xiphias, to be called 

 Skeponopodus. In this he included the fish described by Marcgrave, 

 under the name Slceponopodus guehucu, and also a form observed by him 

 in the Adriatic in 1829, which he called S. typus. I am not aware that 

 ichthyologists have yet learned what this may have been.* 



From the time of Marcgrave until 1872 it does not appear that any 

 zoologist had an oi^portanity to study a Sail- fish from America, or even 

 from the Atlantic, yet in Giinthei's "Catalogue" the name Histio- 

 phorus americanus is discarded and the species of America is assumed 

 to be identical with that of the Indian Ocean. t 



Glinther restores Lacejiede's name H. gladius for the Indian species. 

 Possibly, indeed probably, this name will be found to include the Sail- 

 lish of our own coast. At present, however, it seems desirable to retain 

 a separate name. To unite species from widely distant localities with- 

 out ever having seen them, is very disastrous to a proper understand- 

 ing of the problems of geographical distribution. 



The materials in the National Museum consist of a skeleton and a 

 l)ainted plaster cast of the specimen taken near iTewport, R. I., in 1872, 

 and a drawing made of the same, while fresh, by Mr. J. H. Blake. 



The occurrence of the Sail-fish is, as has been already stated, very 

 unusual. Marcgrave saw it in Brazil as early as 1648. Sagra and Poey 

 mention that it has been seen about Cuba, and Schomburgh includes it 

 in his Barbados list. The sj)ecimen in the United States National 

 Museum was taken off Newport, E. I., in 1872, and given to Professor 

 Baird by Mr. Samuel Powell, of NcAvport. No others were observed in 

 our waters until March, 1878, when, according to Mr. Neyle Habersham, 

 of Savannah, Ga., two were taken by a vessel between Savannah and 

 Indian River, Florida, and were brought to Savannah, where they at- 

 tracted much attention in the market. In 1873, according to Mr. E. G. 

 Blackford, a specimen in a very mutilated condition was brought from 

 Key AVest to New York City. 



Description of the subfamily Xiphiin^ and the genus Xiphias. 



Subfiimily XIPHIINiE, Swaiusou. 



yXiphyincB, SwAixsoN, Nat. Hist. Fish. Ampliib. &o. 1839, p. 239. 

 ^XiphcUd, Bonaparte, Cat. Metod. Pesci Europei, 1846, p. 80. 

 Xiphiinm, Gill, Canadian Naturalist, 1867, p. 250. 



* Isis, 1833, Heft Iv, pp. 415-419. 



t The specimens in the British Museum are catalogued as follows : 

 a. Eight feet long ; stuffed. Indian Ocean. Type of the species. 

 i. Seven feet long ; stuffed. Cape of Good Hope. 



c. Dorsal fin. N. S. Wales (?). Presented by Dr. G. Bennett. 



d. Snout; dried. 



