PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 433 



The Bill-fish or Spear-fish, Tetraptums indicus (with the various 

 doubtful species mentioned above), occurs in the Western Atlantic from 

 the West Indies, lat. 10° to 20° X., to Southern New England, lat. 42° 

 N. ; in the Eastern Atlantic from Gibraltar, lat. 45° N., to the Cape of 

 Good Hope, lat. 30° S. ; in the Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, 

 New Zealand, lat. 40° S., and on the west coast of Chili and Peru. In 

 a general way, the range is between lat. 40° N. and lat. 40° S. 



The species of Tetrapturiis which we have been accustomed to call T. 

 albidus, abundant about Cuba, is not very unusual on the coast of South- 

 ern New England. Several are taken every year by the Sword-fish fish- 

 ermen. I have not known of their capture along the Southern Atlantic 

 coast of the United States. All I have known about were taken between 

 Sandy Hook and the eastern part of George's Banks. 



The Mediterranean Spear-fish, Tetraptiirus belone, appears to be 

 a land-locked form, never passing west of the Straits of Gibraltar. 



Fossil forms. 



Agassiz, in his work on Fossil Fishes, has described two species of 

 Tefrapturvs : one, Tetrapturus prisons (vol. v,.p. 91, tab. 31), from the 

 London Clay, in the Isle of Sheppey; the other, Tetrapturus minor (vol. 

 v, p. 91, tab. GO o, figs. 9-13), from the Lewes Crag. The types of the 

 former are in the Paris Museum (others similar in the collections of Lord 

 Enniskellen and Sir Philip Egerton ) ; of the latter, in the collection of 

 Mr. Mantell. 



He has also described the genus CcclorJiynchns, from fossil fish-beaks 

 which appear to belong to members of the Sword-fish family. These 

 are very long, slender, tapering more gently, even, than in the living" 

 forms, and are hollow throughout the entire length. There are two 

 species, distinguished by name, but not described, viz, G. rectus and 

 C. sinuatus, both from the London Clay of the Isle of Shei)ley. 



Four extinct species oi Eistiophorus have been described: H. priscuSy 

 Ag., from the London Clay, the beak of which is not known ; H. minor, 

 Ag., which has a deeply fluted beak ; H. rohustus, Leidy (Post-pliocene 

 Foss. S. Car. p. 119, Xiphias)^ which is from the Post-pliocene of Ashley 

 Eiver, South Carolina, with beak much depressed, the dentigerous sur- 

 face a continuous plane, separated by a deep groove; H. antiquus (Leidy) 

 Cope, from the New Jersey Eocene, is also a more depressed species, 

 with the dentary surfaces on one plane.* 



At a meeting of the Boston Society, October 6, 1852, Professor Wy- 

 man exhibited three fragments of the beak of a fossil Isthiophorus, from 

 the Tertiary deposits at Eichmond, Va. 



Paleorhynchus, of the schists of Claris, has a bill like Xiphias; also 

 Hamorhynchus BesHayes, first described by Agassiz as Histiophorus Des 

 Hayes, a Scombroid with elongated bill. 



* E, D. Cope, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, xh, 186J, p. 311. 



Proc. Nat. Mus. 81 28 May 6, 18 88. 



