282 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



hardly even by that arrangement get his awkwardly- 

 projecting snout out of the way. Yet doubtless this 

 feature, which seems so inconvenient, is of great value 

 to Xiphias. In some way as yet unknown it enables 

 him to get his living. "Whether he first kills some one 

 of his neighbors with this instrument, and then eats 

 him at his leisure, or whether he plunges it deep into 

 the larger sort of fish, and, attaching himself to them 

 in this way, sucks nutriment from them while they 

 are yet alive, is not known to naturalists. Certainly, 

 he is fond of attacking whales, but this may result 

 not so much from gastronomic tastes as from a natu- 

 "ral antipathy envy, perhaps, at their superior bulk. 

 Unfortunately for himself, Xiphias, though cold- 

 blooded, seems a somewhat warm-tempered animal ; 

 and, when he is angered, he makes a bull-like rush 

 upon his foe, without always examining with due 

 care whether he is likely to take any thing by his 

 motion. And when he happens to select for attack a 

 stalwart ship, and to plunge his horny beak through 

 thirteen or fourteen inches of planking, with perhaps 

 a stout copper sheathing outside it, he is apt to find 

 some little difficulty in retreating. The affair usually 

 ends by his leaving his sword embedded in the side 

 of the ship. In fact, no instance has ever been re- 

 corded of a sword-fish recovering his weapon (if we 

 may use the expression) after making a lunge of this 

 sort. Last Wednesday the Court of Common Pleas 



