432 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



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

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

 Zealand : 



Inches. 



Total length from tip of snout to end of caudal fln . 



Length of siidut from tip to ceufer of eye 



Lenuth (if snout from tip to gape 



Length of suout from tip to free edge of operculum 



Length of suout from tip to nostrils 



Length of lower jaw from point to gape 



Projection of upper jaw over lower 



Height of dorsal tin 



From iloisal tii caudal 



Lengtli of i)e(toral fins 



Lengt li of annl 



Height of second dorsal 



From anal to caudal 



Widtli across the tail 



Girtli just bcliiud the eyes 



Girtli liehiud doisal 



Girth behind caudal 



JJiameter of eye , 



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

 being wanting.* 



Geographical range of the Sword-fish family. 



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

 views of Dr. Liltken regarding the si)ecific unity of the Spear-fishes 

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

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

 their geographical distribution. 



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

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

 Breton, lat. 47°. Kot seen at Greenland, Iceland, or Spitzbergen, but 

 occurring, according to Collett, at the North Cai)e, 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, Avho 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. 84°, 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, Hisiiophorns gladius (with H. americamis and R. ori- 

 entalis, questionable species, and H. pulcheUus and H. immaculatus 

 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 tlie At- 

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

 England, lat. 42° N. ; in the Pacitic 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). 



