[67] CATALOGUE OF THE FISHES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Family LXXXI.— ELACATIDJi:. (71) 



230.— ELACATE Ciivier. (208) 



756. Elacate Canada Linnipns. S. W. O. (661) 



Family LXXXII.— XIPHI1DJ3. (72) 



231.— XIPHIAS Liunieus. (209) 



757. Xiphias gladius Linna-us. O. X. S. W. C. (662) 



232.— TETRAPTURUS Rafinesque. (210) 



758. Tetrapturua albidus Pocy. W. S. (663) 



233.— ISTIOPHORUS Lac^pdde. (211) 



759. iBtiophoruB americauus' Cuv. & Val. (665) 



Family LXXXIII.— TRICHIUEID^. (73) 



234.— TRICHIURUS Linnteus. (212) 



760. Trichiurus lepturus Liuii.npus. O. S. W. P. (666) 



235.— BENTHODESMUS Goode & Bean. (212&.) 



761. Benthodesmus elongatua Clarke. B. (666 &.) 



236.— LEPIDOPUS Gouan. 



762. Lepidopus caiidatus Eupbrasen. 0. P. 



' The genuine Istiophorns gladius is an East Indian species, not known from our 

 coasts. The American species is : 



l8tioj}horu8 americanua Cnv. & Yah Sail-fitih ; Spike-fish. Bluish-black, paler below ; 

 dorsal dusky-bluish ; its membranes with many nearly round black spots, from ito J 

 diameter of orbit. Snout, from eye, 2^ times length of rest of head. Lower jaw 2^ 

 in head. Front of eye nearly midway between tip of lower jaw and edge of opercle. 

 Interorbital space broad, flattish, If in postorbital part of head. Maxillary reaching 

 to slightly beyond eye, which is 3^ in postorbital part of head and 10 in snout. 

 Sword narrow, regularly tapering, depressed, its upper and lower surfaces both 

 rounded, its edges blunt and rougher than its upper side. For its entire length it is 

 nearly twice as broad as deep. Breadth of snout at the middle point between its 

 tip and the eye contained 25 times in its length from the eye. Longest dorsal spine 

 f total length of head. Veutrals 1'^ in head. Pectorals 3«. Caudal lobes 1^. D. 

 XLI-7 ; A. 9-7. Head 2| (3^ in length with caudal) ; depth about 6. Length of speci- 

 men described (Key West) 6 feet. 



West Indies and warmer parts of the Atlantic, north to Cape Cod and France. Dif- 

 fering from the East Indian /. fjladitis in the longer and slenderer sword and in the 

 shorter dorsal fin. 



(? Makaira nigricans Lac^pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss. IV, 668, 1803. Histiophorus americanus 

 Cuv. & Val., VIII, 303, 1831 ; ? Hisiiophorus gracilirosfris C. & V., VIII, 308 ; '^Histi- 

 ophorus ancipitirostris Cuv. & Val., VIII, 309. I here restore the original orthography 

 of the name Ifiiophorus.) 



-Lepidopus Gouan. 



(Gouan, Hist. Poiss. 1770, 185; tji^a Lepidopus gouani Bl. & fichu. = Trichiurus cau- 

 datus Euphrasen.) 



This genus differs from T}-(c/n'«r?/s chiefly in the less elongate form of the tail, which 



