120 GIGANTIC "SPADAS." 



Yarrell, relates that in a voyage to Memel, one tranquil 

 night, when off the Hebrides, he called up his crew to 

 witness a curious encounter between some "thrashers" 

 (Carcharias vulpes), a genus of sharks, and a sword-fish, 

 leagued together against a whale. No sooner was the 

 vast back of the monster raised a little above the surface 

 than the thrashers sprang several feet into the air, and 

 descending, struck it with their tails, the blows resounding 

 like the peal of distant ordnance. Meantime, the sword- 

 fish attacked the whale from below, getting close under 

 its belly, and attacking it with a vigour and effect that 

 did not leave the result of the combat doubtful. 



Numerous instances are on record of the sword-fish 

 having transfixed the timbers of a ship with its powerful 

 blade. 



He fights obstinately with the saw-fish and the shark, 

 and is usually victorious ; but is himself the victim of a 

 miserable little enemy, a crustacean parasite the penna- 

 tulafilosa which eats into his flesh, and almost maddens 

 him with pain. 



The spere spada, as the Italians call him, is often found 

 on a very large scale, and monstrous specimens occasion- 

 ally visit our own coasts. An individual stranded on the 

 Essex shore measured ten feet in length, a third of which 

 belonged to the osseous blade. This, however, was a 

 comparatively diminutive example ; for several naturalists 

 speak of Mediterranean spadas which weigh four hundred 

 pounds, and measure from twelve to fourteen feet ; while 

 Cuvier supposes eighteen or twenty feet to be within 

 their range of development. These Anaks of the race, 

 however, are of infrequent occurrence ; the spadas caught 

 in the Mediterranean, and exposed for sale in the Sicilian 



