384 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [96] 
blue. The first, they say, has the smaller head, and is trabajadona— 
that is to say, “difficult to conquer”. The second grows much larger, 
and it has been seen to weigh 1,000 pounds to 1,500 pounds, and with 
a tail 6 feet in width; it is called bomba—that is, “‘easy to conquer”. 
I have never succeeded in characterizing these species. It is difficult 
for the fishermen to judge well, for the bands disappear after death, 
and it is probable that they also disappear with age. I have seen them, 
however, in individuals of 500 pounds. The size of the head depends 
upon sex, the females always having the largest. The opinion of Mes- 
sieurs Baretto and Dulzaides is that there is but a single species of 
Aguja de casta. This is also my own opinion, but not that of M. Jacome. 
glhis description is of the Vareteada. 
The T. albidus having been taken as a type, the description of T. 
amplus may be shorter. The individual described is a male, 2,453 mil- 
limeters long; the head is larger, and it is more depressed between the 
eyes; the nape and the back, in the neighborhood of the insertion of 
the dorsal, are more elevated; the total length of the body is less. The 
mouth is a little smaller, so that the tip of the maxillary is slightly less 
extended. D. 3, 38-7; A. 2, 13-7. The anterior edge of the dorsal is 
over the base of the pectoral fins; the length of the pectoral is one-fifth 
of the length of the body, measuring from the tip of the lower jaw. 
The spreading of the lobes of the caudal is a differential character, 
which is very remarkable, for the angle of bifurcation is 90°; if the 
tips, which bend inward, are ignored, at least 100°. The beak, which 
is much stronger, has permanent denticulations on its sides and asperi- 
ties below. There is no lateral line, and the scales are very frequently 
faleated in shape. The color is dark blue above and below, but the 
belly and the sides have a slightly silvery tint; the body is crossed 
vertically by fifteen bands or stripes of a light color, which are, how- 
ever, only visible upon the back, and when the fish is fresh. 
The skull i is harder than that of the 7. albidus, less cellular, less oily; 
the ethmdid is less spongy. The vomer is visible, covering a consider- 
able space in the roof of the mouth. It # upon this surface that we 
find the asperities such as have been mentioned as belonging to the 
vomer and the palatines; but these asperities actually belong only to 
the skin which covers it, for the vomer does not descend so low, and the 
palatines are exposed ane in a band 20 millimeters long and 3 broad. 
The beak is much more robust in proportion, and its denticulations are 
stronger; they also extend higher up. 
I have shown in figures three beaks of Tetrapturus amplus, drawn to 
their natural size, and it may be seen how much they vary. The first 
is that of a male; it is 420 millimeters long, and its section, taken at 
the same place as those already described, is 19 millimeters high and 
28 wide; 20 millimeters back of the tip it is 10 millimeters high and 
12 wide; its base is high. 
The second beak which has been figured is that of a female; it is 480 
