168 COMMON SWORD-FISH. 



and also the Mediterranean. It attains the length 

 of fifteen, or even twenty feet, the sword being then 

 four or five feet long ; this sword is merely a pro- 

 longation of the snout covered with skin, and 

 flattened into a sword shape. Though this pro- 

 jection is far from being sharp, either on the mar- 

 gins or at the point, yet, when urged forward by 

 the rapid motion of the animal, it has been known 

 to pierce a thick plank of wood. This fact, referred 

 to by Pliny in ancient times, has often been called 

 in question ; but it appears to be sufficiently authen- 

 ticated by recent instances, a piece of plank, con- 

 taining part of the snout of a sword-fish, is exhibited 

 in the British Museum. Several instances of this 

 fact are mentioned by Cuvier and Valenciennes; 

 and specimens are preserved, in the Museum at Paris, 

 of the sword imbedded in parts of vessels, which, it 

 is considered, the fish had mistaken for some large 

 whale, or other marine animal, which they had been 

 in the habit of attacking. 



Nature has furnished a great proportion of fishes 

 with a more than ordinarily powerful array of teeth 

 which are used to secure their prey, but not, we 

 think, almost ever as either defensive or offensive 

 weapons ; and we have seen very formidable weapons 

 in the sword and saw-fishes. There are, however, 

 other modes of securing their prey for which suitable 

 provision has been made; a very curious one is 

 observed in the family of Choetodon, a tribe of 

 fishes remarkable also for their often singular forms 

 and for the beauty of their colouring. Those pos- 



