304 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [16] * 
natural enemies. They engage in violent combats, and when the Te- 
trapture is attached to the fisherman’s line it often receives frightful 
wounds from its adversary. 
The ovaries are large; the ova are small and yellow, and nearly one- 
eighth of an inch in fiamicter 
The Cuban fishermen agree in admitting ued the name Aguja blanca 
two species, one called Cabezona (large-headed) ; the other smaller, the 
nape lower. I agree with them to some extent; yet, although I have 
drawn and measured many individuals of the two kinds, I do not dare 
to describe them as distinct, since I find remarkable variations, which 
lead me to suspend my judgment. I only describe one individual from 
those considered the large-headed variety.” 
For the more technical part of the description of these two species see 
paragraph 64. 
11.—NOTES ON THE SAIL-FISH, HISTIOPHORUS AMERICANUS. 
Strange as it may seem, the American species of Histiophorus. has 
never been studied by an ichthyologist, and no attempt has ever been 
made to describe it or to compare it carefully with the similar species 
occurring in the Indian Ocean. The identity of the two has been as- 
sumed by Dr. Giinther,* but since no American specimens have ever 
been seen by this authority, I hesitate for the present to follow his 
lead. 
The history of the Sail-fish in iohthsolamical literature is as follows: 
The first allusion to the genus occurs in Piso’s “ Historia Naturalis 
Braziliz,” printed at Amsterdam, in 1648. In this bookt may be found 
an identifiable though rough figure of the American species, accom- 
panied by a few lines of description, which, though good, when the fact 
* Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum, ii, 1860, p. 513. 
+1648. PIso AND MARCGRAVE. 
Historia Naturalis | Brasilie, | Auspicio et Beneficio | Illustrisa. | Mauritii Com. 
Nassau | illius Provincim et Maris summi Prefecti Adornata: | In qua | Non tantum 
Plante et Animalia, sed et In- | digenarum morbi, ingenia et mores describuntur et | 
Iconibus qungentus illustrantur | (Elaborate engraved title-page, upon which the 
preceding inscription is inserted upon a scroll, the following upon a shell.) Lyvgyn 
Batauorum, | Apud Franciscum Hackium, | et | Amstelodami, | Apud Lud. Elze- 
virium. 1648. | pp. (12) 122 (2) (8) 293 (7). 
Second title. 
Guilielmi Pisonis, M. D. | Lugduno-Batavi, | de Medicina Brasiliensi | Libri Qua- 
tuor:| I. De Aére, Aquis & Locis. | II. De Morbis Endemiis. | III. De Venenatis 
& Antidotis. | IV. De Facultatibus Simplicium | et Georgi Marcgravi de Liebstad, | 
Misnici Germani, | Historis® Rerum Naturalium | Brasilix, | Libri octo: | Quorum | 
Tres puores agunt de Plantis, | Quartus de Piscibus. | Quintus de Avibus. | Sextus de 
Quadrupedibus & Serpentibus. | Septimus de Insectis. | Octavus de Ipsa Regione, & 
Illius Incolis. | Cum | Appendice de Tapuyis, et Chilensibus. | Ioannes de Let, | 
Antwerpianus, | In ordinem digessit & Annotationes addidit, & varies ab Auctore | 
Omissa supplevit & illustravit. | 
