ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. Tog 
From the statements of Blochand later writers it appears that 
large swordfish also are abundant in the Mediterranean. Late 
Italian fishery reports state that the average weight of those 
taken on the coast of Italy is fifty kilograms (one hundred and 
ten pounds). 
Of the coasts of Spain and Portugal, Steindachner remarks : 
“More abundant on the southern coasts of Spain than on the 
northern, western and eastern sides of the Iberian peninsula. 
We saw quite large examples in the fish-markets at Gibraltar, 
Cadiz, Lisbon, La Corufia and Barcelona, and at Santa Cruz, 
Teneriffe. The largest of three specimens in my possession is 
forty-three inches long, another twenty-four inches.’’* 
RATE OF GROWTH. 
Little is known about the rate of growth. The young fish 
taken in winter in the Mediterranean, ranging in weight from 
half a pound to twelve pounds, are thought to have been hatched 
during the previous summer. Those of a larger size, ranging 
from twenty-four to sixty pounds, taken on the New England 
coast in the summer, may perhaps be the young of the previous 
year. Beyond this even conjecture is fruitless. As in other 
species, the rate of growth depends directly upon the quantity 
of food consumed. It is to be presumed that a summer passed 
in feasting among the crowding schools of menhaden and mack- 
erel in our waters would bring about a considerable increase in 
weight. That this is the case is clearly shown by the testimony 
of the fishermen, who say that in the spring swordfish are thin, 
growing fatter and heavier as the season goes on. 
Dr. Liitken and Dr. Giinther have lately made some exceed- 
ingly interesting observations upon the young of the swordfish 
and of the spearfish and sailfish. 
Dr. Giinther’s studies were made upon very small specimens 
of undetermined species, belonging to either Zetrapturus, Histio- 
phorus, or both. In his latest work, “ The Study of Fishes,” he 
summarizes the facts observed by him as follows: 
‘The swordfishes with ventral fins (AW7stéophorus) belong to the 
* Sitzb. Ak., Wiss. Wien, 1868, p. 306. 
