308 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



captain, with one man, taking a dory, gave chase, and soon harpooned the 

 fish, throwing over a huoy with a Hne attached to the harpoon, after which 

 the fish was left and they returned to the vessel for dinner. About an 

 hour later the captain, with one man, again took his dory and went out to 

 secure the fish. Picking up the buoy. Captain Langsford took hold of the 

 line, pulling his boat toward the Swordfish, which was quite large, and not 

 badly wounded. The line was taut as the boat slowly neared the fish, which 

 the captain intended to lance, and thus kill it. When near the fish, but 

 too far away to reach it with the lance, it quickly turned and rushed at aud 

 under the boat, thrusting its sword up through the bottom of the boat 

 twenty-three inches. As the fish turned and rushed towards the boat the 

 line was suddenly slacked, causing the captain to fall over on his back ; 

 and, while he was in the act of rising, the sword came piercing through 

 the boat and into his body. At this time another Swordfish was in sight 

 near by, and the captain, excited and anxious to secure both, raised himself 

 up, not knowing that he was wounded. Seeing the sword, he seized it, 

 exclaiming, " We've got Jiim, any way ! " He lay in the bottom of the 

 dory, holding fast to the sword, until his vessel came alongside, while the 

 fish, being under the boat, could not be reached. Soon the captain said, 

 "I think I am hurt, and quite badly." When the vessel arrived he went 

 on board, took a few steps and fell, never rising again. The boat and fish 

 were soon hoisted on board, when the sword was chopped off to free the 

 boat, and the fish was killed on the deck of the vessel. The fish weighed 

 245 pounds after its head and tail were cut off and the viscera removed ; 

 when alive it weighed something over 300 pounds. Captain Langsford 

 survived the injury about three days, dying on August 12th, of peritonitis, 

 the sword having penetrated his body to the extent of seven inches, and 

 entered the pelvic cavity. The sword has been deposited in the U.S. 

 National Museum. — W. A. Wilcox (in a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird), Bull. 

 U.S. Fish Commission, 1887, p. 417. 



Crenilabrus exoletus at Penzance.— Early in May, in a crab-pot in 

 about ten fathoms of water, I took a Rock-cook, Crenilabrus exoletus. It is 

 not a rare fish here, but is rarely observed, and I note it on account of its 

 exceedingly brilliant colouring. The ultramarine-blue stripes over and 

 below the eye throughout the whole length of the head, were followed along 

 the back by markings, following the edges of the scales, of a similar blue, 

 intermixed with bright iridescent-green. The base of the pectorals and of 

 the caudal were similarly marked, as were also three or four rows of scales 

 below the lateral line; and it was similarly, but in fainter colour, marked 

 on the belly behind the vent, the blue colour preponderating; the sides 

 were of a golden bronze colour, and so also were the lower sides of the 

 preoperculum. The dorsal and anal fins were also bright blue at the base ; 

 the belly was of a inonzed white. The fish was a male, which may perhaps 



