[31] MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF THE SWORD-FISHES. 319 
Good Hope, South Atlantic in mid-ocean, west coast of South America 
and north to Southern California, lat. 34°, 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, Histiophorus gladius (with H. americanus and H. ori- 
entalis, questionable species, and H. pulchellus and H. immaculatus, 
young), occurs in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Malay Archipelago, and 
south at least as far as the Cape of Good Hope, lat. 35° S.; in the At- 
lantic on coast of Brazil, lat. 30° S. to 0, and north to Southern New 
England, lat. 42° N.; in the Pacific to Southwestern Japan, lat. 30° to 
10° N. Ina general way the range may be be said to be in tropical and 
temperate seas, between lat. 30° S. and 40. N., and in the western parts 
of those seas. 
THE BILL-FISH OR SPEAR-FISH, Tetrapturus indicus (with the various 
doubtful species mentioned in paragraph 12), occurs in the Western 
Atlantic from the West Indies, lat. 10° to 20° N., 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 arntd Peru. In a general way, the range is between lat. 40° N. and 
lat. 40° S. 
_ The species of Tetrapturus which we have been accustomed to call 7. 
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, Tetrapturus belone, appears to be 
a land-locked form, never passing west of the Straits of Gibraltar. 
20.—PERIODICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE SWORD-FISH—TIMES OF AR- 
RIVAL AND DEPARTURE. 
Betore entering upon a discussion of the movements of the Sword-fish 
and their causes, it seems desirable to bring together the facts which 
have been learned, by conversation with fishermen and otherwise, in one 
group. Each man’s views are given in his own style, and as nearly as 
possible in his own words. There is no attempt at a classification of 
the facts. This will be made subsequently. 
An old swordfisherman at New York informed Mr. Blackford that 
the season opens in the neighborhood of Sandy Hook about the 1st of 
June, and continues along the coast as far east as Martha’s Vineyard 
and Nantucket Shoals until about the middle of September. He has 
heard of their being caught as far east as Cape Sable. At the first cold 
winds of September they disappear. They are, like the mackerel, at 
first very poor and lean, but as the season advances they grow fatter, 
