106 FISH- CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
men, or else pierce the boats with their bills. The fish is highly 
esteemed in the Mauritius, the flesh being of a salmon color 
near the vertebrz ; lower down it is red and like coarse beef. 
The spicies attains a large size, one having been seen measuring 
twenty-six feet. 
MOVEMENTS OF SAIL-FISHES. 
No observations have been made in this country, and recourse 
must be had to the statements of observers in the other hem- 
isphere. 
In the life of Sir Stamford Raffles there is the following ac- 
count from Singapore, under date of November 3oth, 1782: 
“The only amusing discovery we have recently made is that 
of a sailing fish, called by the natives /kan /ayer, of about ten or 
twelve feet long, which hoists a mainsail, and often sails in the 
manner of a native boat, and .with considerable swiftness. I 
have sent a set of the sails home, as they are beautifully cut and 
form a model fora fast sailing boat. Whena school of these 
are under sail together they are frequently mistaking for a fleet 
of native boats.” 
The fish referred to is in all likelihood A7stophorus gladius, a 
species very closely related to, if not identical with our own. 
MAXIMUM AND AVERAGE SIZE OF AMERICAN SWORDFISH. 
The only individual of which we have the exact measurements 
was taken off Seaconnet, R. I., July 23d, 1874. This was seven 
feet and seven inches long, weighing one hundred and thirteen 
pounds. Another, taken off Noman’s Land, July 2oth, 1875, and 
cast in plaster for the collection of the National Museum, 
weighed one hundred and twenty pounds, and measured about 
seven feet. Another, taken off Portland, August 15th, 1878, was 
3,999 millimeters long, and weighed about six hundred pounds. 
Many of these fish doubtless attain the weight of four hundred 
and five hundred pounds, and some, perhaps, grow to six hun- 
dred; but after this limit is reached, I am inclined to believe 
larger fish are exceptional. 
Newspapers are fond of recording the occurrence of giant 
