432 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The following measurements were taken by T. F. Cheeseman, esq., F. 

 L. S., from a specimen stranded in January, 1875, at Shelly Beach, New 

 Zealand : 



Inches. 



Total leiicrth from tip of snout to end of caudal fin . 



Length of snout from tip to center of eye 



Length of snout from tip to gape 



Length of snout from tip to free edge of operculum 



Length of snout from tip to nostrils 



Length of lower jaw from point to gape 



Projection of upper jaw over lower 



Height of dorsal tin 



From dorsal to caudal 



Length of pectoral tins 



Length of annl 



Height of second dorsal 



ITrom anal to caudal 



Width across the tail 



Girth just behind the eyes 



Girth behind dorsal 



Girth behind caudal 



Diameter of eye 



The extreme point of the snout was broken oft", about three inches 

 being wanting.* 



Geographical range of the Sword-fish family. 



Although it may not seem desirable at present to accept in full the 

 views of Dr. Liitken regarding the specific unity of the Spear-fishes 

 and the Sail-fishes of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, it is convenient 

 to group the different species in the way he has suggested in discussing 

 their geographical distribution. 



The Sword-fish, Xlphias fjlacUus, ranges along the Atlantic coast of 

 America from Jamaica, lat. 18° IST., Cuba, and the Bermudas to Cape 

 Breton, lat. 47°. Not seen at Greenland, Iceland, or Spitzbergen, but 

 occurring, according to Collett, at the North Cape, lat. 71°. Abundant 

 along the coasts of Western Europe, entering the Baltic and the Medi- 

 terranean. I can find no record of the species on the west coast of 

 Africa south of the Cape Verdes, though Liitken, who may have access 

 to facts unknown to me, states that they occur clear down to the Cape 

 of Good Hope, South Atlantic in mid-ocean, west coast of South America 

 and north to Southern California, lat. 34°, New Zealand, and in the 

 Indian Ocean off' Mauritius. Good authorities state that sperm-whales, 

 though constantly passing Cape Horn, never round the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Can this be true in the case of the Sword-fish? 



The Sail-fish, Risiiopliorus gladius (with H. americanus and R. ori- 

 entalis, questionable species, and H. pulchellus and H. immaeulatus 

 young), occurs in the lied Sea, Indian Ocean, Malay Archipelago, and 

 south at least as far as the Cape of Good Hope, lat. 35° S.; in the At- 

 lantic on coast of Brazil, lat. 30° S. to 0, and north to Southern New 

 England, lat. 42° N. ; in the Pacific to Southwestern Japan, lat. 30° to 

 10° N. In a general way, the range may be said to be in tropical and 

 temperate seas, between lat. 30° S. and 40° N., and in the western parts 

 of those seas. 



* Transactions New Zealand Institute, viii, 1875, p. 211). 



