316 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [28] 
Capt. Jerome B. Smith, of the schooner “ Hattie Lewis”, of Glouces- 
ter, killed a Sword-fish off Cape Smoke, near Sidney, Cape Breton.* 
Mr. J. Matthew Jones, of Halifax, N.S., writes, in 1877: “The Sword- 
fish is by no means common on our coast, and only makes its appear- 
ance at intervals in our harbors and bays. One waS taken in 1864 in 
Bedford Basin, at the head of Halifax Harbor. September 6, 1866, an 
individual weighing 200 pounds was taken in a net at Devil’s Island. 
November 12, 1866, the Rev. J. Ambrose sent me a sword, 3 feet and 6 
inches long, from a fish taken at Dover, N. 8., a few days previously.” 
The Sword-fish has, once at least, penetrated into the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. In September, 1857, Capt. J. W. Collins was one of the crew 
of the schooner “ Mary Ellen”, of Truro, Mass., and harpooned a Sword- 
fish four miles southwest of the eastern part of Prince Edwards Island. 
On the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island they abound 
in the summer months. Southward they are less frequently seen, though 
their occurrence off New York is not unusual. Ihave never known one 
to be taken off New Jersey, and in our southern waters they do not 
appear to remain. Uhler and Lugger vaguely state that they sometimes 
enter the Chesapeake Bay.t This is apparently traditionary evidence. 
Dr. Yarrow obtained reliable information of their occasional appear- 
ance near Cape Lookout, N.C. 
Mr. A. W. Simpson states, in a letter to Professor Baird, that Sword-fish 
are sometimes seen at sea off Cape Hatteras, in November and Decem- 
ber, in large quantities. They sometimes find their way into the sounds. . 
An item went the rounds of the newspapers in 1876 to the effect that 
a Sword-fish 4 feet long had been captured in the Saint John’s River, near 
Jacksonville. After personal inquiry in Jacksonville, I am satisfied that 
this was simply a scabbard-fish or silvery hair-tail (Trichiurus lepturus). 
Professor Poey states that the fishermen of Cuba sometimes capture 
the Pez de espada when in pursuit of Agujas or Spear-fishes. § 
They have also been seen in Jamaica. 
Liitken gives instances of the capture of young Sword-fish at various 
points in the open Atlantic, as follows: 
(1) Lat. 32° 50’ N., long. 74° 19’ W. (about 150 miles SE. of Cape 
Hatteras). 
(2) Lat. 23° W., long. 55° W. (about 500 miles NE. of the Island of 
Antigua). 
(3) Lat. 20° N., long. 319° W. (about 150 miles NW. of Teneriffe and 
250 SW. of Madeira). 
* Capt. R. H. Hulbert. 
t List of the Fishes of Maryland. By P. R. Ubler and Otto Lugger, in Report of the 
Commissioners of Fisheries of Maryland, January, 1876, p. 90. 
t Notes Mf the Natural History of Fort Macon, N. C.,, and vicinity (No. 3). By H. 
C. Yarrow, in Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1877, 
p. 207. ’ 
§ Synopsis Piscium Cubensium, Cataloga Razonado de los Peces de Ja Isla de Cuba, 
in Repertorio Fisico-Natural de la Isla de Cuba, ii, 1868, p. 379. 
