FISHES. 



641 



declared that, to drive a pointed bolt of iron of the same size and 

 form to the same depth, would require eight or nine blows with a 

 hammer weighing thirty pounds. From the position of the weapon 

 it was evident that the fish had followed the ship while under full 

 sail ; it had penetrated through the metal sheathing, and three inches 

 and a half beyond, into the solid frame. 



The sword-fish has obstinate combats with the saw-fish, and even 

 the shark, and it is supposed that when he attacks the bottom of a 

 vessel he takes that sombre mass for the body of an enemy. 



The flesh of the young sword-fish is white, compact, and of ex- 

 cellent taste ; that of adults resembles the tunny. It is the object of 



Fig. 401. — The Sea-Snail (Liparis barbatus). 



a fishery of some importance in the Straits of Messina. The fisher- 

 men of Messina and Reggio join in this fishery with a great number 

 of boats, carrying brilliant flambeaux, while one of the crew is 

 stationed at the mast-head to announce the approach of the sword- 

 fish. At a given signal the boats rush on to attack them with the 

 harpoons (Fig. 400). During this fishery the sailors sing a peculiar 

 melody without words. 



In the family of Gobiodese there is a section which consists of a 

 small number of species characterised by their ventral fins being 

 formed into a disc with all the rays undivided, as in the sea-snails 

 {Liparis), in which the lengthened body has but one long dorsal 

 fin ; the pectoral and ventrals forming a disc, as in Z. barbatus (Fig. 

 401), or the Suckers {Lepidogaster), where the pectorals and ventrals 



p p 



