THE SWORD-FISHES. 



85 



FAMILY XVI. TIIE XIPHIID^E, OK SWORD-FISHES. 



Of these there are two genera. Xiphhs, the Common Sword-fish, abounds throughout the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea and the European Seas, and extends along both sides of the Atlantic. The second 

 genus, named Histiophorus, comprises the Flying S word-fishes, which reach quite as large a size as 

 the British type, and are distinguished by the enormous size of the dorsal fins. The Common 

 Sword-fish (Xij)hias yladius) in these seas sometimes reaches a length of ten feet, and then the sword 

 in front of the orbit of the eye measures three feet five inches. It has once been taken in the river 

 Nen, below Peterborough. 



It has often been met with in Scotland, and ranges into the Baltic. Captain Crow is answerable 





FLYING SWORD-FISH. 



for the celebrated story of all hands being called up at three o'clock in the morning near the Hebrides 

 to witness a battle between some Sword-fishes and Fox Sharks on the one side, and an immense 

 Whale on the other. Almost every captain on the east coast professes to have seen an exact! v 

 similar conflict. It is well known that the sword is sometimes driven into the bottom of a ship. 

 Dr. Leach records finding small Sword-fish in the stomach of a large one, but Scottish specimens 

 contained the kind of Cuttle-fish called the Calamary. 



The young Sword-fish is eaten on the shores of the Mediterranean. The sword in the upper 

 jaw is depressed and flat, and extends far in advance of the lower jaw. In small specimens the 

 dorsal fin is high and greatly elongated, and the lower jaw is relatively much longer than in the adult. 

 The allied genus Histiophorus is also devoid of scales, but the skin contains slight dermal 

 ossifications. This genus, unlike Xiphias, is supplied with small teeth in the jaws and on the 

 palatine bones. 



The seventh division, the Trichiuriformes, also includes but one family, in which there are seven 

 genera. 



