294 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [6] 
body of this fish is shaped like the blade of a saber, and its skin has a 
bright metallic luster like that of polished steel; hence the name. 
The various species of Sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, G. nove- 
boracensis, and Pygosteus occidentalis, are known as “Little Sword-fish” 
by the boys of Portland, Me., and vicinity. The spines, damaging in the 
extreme to small fingers of tyro fish-gatherers, give reason to the name. 
Sail-fish appear to occur throughout the tropical and southern parts 
of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Their names, wherever they 
are found, point to its most striking characters. In Maregrave’s time 
the Portuguese of Brazil called it Bicuda, referring to its snout, and 
Rochefort, in his History of the West Indies, calls it the Bécasse de Mer ; 
a bécasse being a long-snouted bird like a woodcock or a snipe, while 
in the Malay Archipelago the Dutch call it Zee-snip or ““Sea-snipe”. The 
Malays of Amboyna called it the I/an-layer or Fan-fish, in allusion to the 
fan-like movements of its dorsal fin, while those of Sumatra called it 
Tkan-jegan or Sail-fish. The French Voilier and the Dutch Zeyl-fisch and 
Bezaan-fisch mean the same; a bezaan being the sail upon the mizzen 
mast of a ship. The names “ Boohoo” and ‘“ Woohoo” have already 
been referred to. The Tamil name used about Madras, South Hindoo- 
stan, is ‘‘ Myl-meen”, signifying ‘ Peacock-fish”. 
C.—DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SWORD-FISH FAMILY, WITH 
ITS SUBFAMILIES AND GENERA, WITH NOTES UPON 
THE AMERICAN SPECIES. 
5.—DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMILY XIPHIIDA. 
Family XIPHIIDA, Agassiz. 
Xiphioides, AGAssiz, Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles, v, 1843, p. 89.—BLEEKER, 
Enum. Sp. Pisc. 1859, p. 62. 
Xiphiide, GUNTHER, Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum, ii, 1860, p. 511; 
Fische der Siidsee, i, 1873-5, p. 105; Study or Fishes, 1880, p. 431.—GILL, 
Arrangement of the Families of Fishes, 1872, p. 8 (name only).—Day, Fishes 
of India, i, 1876, p. 198. 
Diagnosis of Family. 
Scombroid fishes, with elongate, compressed bodies, naked (Xiphiine) 
or covered with elongate scale-like scutes (Tetrapturine). Premaxilla- 
ries with nasal and vomerine bones, produced in along spear-like snout, 
immovably articulated with the prenasal and maxillary. Teeth absent 
(Xiphiine) or rudimentary (Zetrapturine). Nasal bone cellular at its 
base. Ventrals absent (Xiphiinw) or rudimentary (Tetrapturinw). A 
single dorsal, extending nearly the whole length of the body in young, 
becoming with age subdivided into two short dorsals (Xiphiina), or per- 
sistent (Histiophorus) or subpersistent, divided in middle with age 
(Tetrapturus). A similar rudimentation of anal fin in both subfamilies. 
Preopercular spine present in young (Xiphiine) or parietal and pre- 
opercular spines (Tetrapturine), disappearing with age. Seven branch- 
iostegals. Pseudobranchize present. Branchie cancellated or reticu- 
