100 



VERTEBRATA. PISCES. 



striking the huge fish with poles. Numbers of the 

 higher classes find great amusement in witnessing 

 this spectacle ; and Louis XIII. declared it was the 

 pleasantest sight he had seen in his whole visit to 

 the south. 



Xiphias,* the Swordfish. 







COMMON SWORDFISH (Xipkias Gladius). 



The far-famed Swordfish is remarkable for the 

 great width and strength of its tail, to which there 

 was an approach in that of the Mackarel, and still more 

 in that of the Tunny. But a more obvious peculi- 

 arity is the extension of the upper jaw into a long 

 * Its Greek name, from |/<poj, xiphos, a sword. 



