86 FISH—CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
been known ever since, and only one additional name is included 
in its synonymy, X7phias Rondeletti, Leach. 
POPULAR NAMES OF ALLIED AMERICAN SPECIES. 
The swordfish has been so long and so well known that its 
right to its peculiar name has seldom been infringed upon. The 
various species of Zetrapiurus have sometimes shared its title, 
and this is not to be wondered at, since they closely resemble 
Xiphias gladius, and the appellative has frequently been applied 
to the family X7phizde—the swordfish family-—which includes 
them all. 
The name bill-fish, usually applied to the Zetrapturus albtdus,a 
fish of the swordfish family often taken on our coast, and de- 
scribed below, is objectionable, since it is in many districts used 
for the various species of Le/onide, the “ garfishes” or “ green 
bones” (Belone truncata and others) which are members of the 
same fauna. Spear-fish is a much better name. 
The “ sail-fish,” Wéstiophorus americanus, is called by sailors in 
the South the.“ Boohoo”’ or *‘ Woohoo.” This is evidently a 
corrupted form of “(Guebucu,” a name apparently of Indian 
origin, given to the same fish in Brazil. It is possible that the 
Tetrapturus is also called “ Boohoo,” since the two genera are 
not sufficiently unlike to impress sailors with their differences, 
Bleeker states that in Sumatra the Malays call the related spe- 
cies, H. gladius, by the name Joohoo (/whu), a curious co- 
incidence. The names may have been carried from the Malay 
Archipelago to South America, or vice versa, by navigators. 
In Cuba the spear-fishes are called Agwa and Agwa de Paladas ; 
the sail-fish, Agwa Prieta or Agula voladora ; Tetrapturus albidus 
is specially known as the dAgwja blanca, T. albidus as the Aguja 
de Casta. 
In the West Indies and Florida the scabbard-fish or silvery 
hair-tail (Zvichiurus lepturus), a form allied to the X7phias, though 
not resembling it closely in external appearance, is often called 
“swordfish.” The body of this fish is shaped like the blade of 
a saber, and its skin has a bright metallic luster like that of pol- 
ished steel ; hence the name. ; 
The various species of sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, G. 
