38 ESCHRICHT AND REINHARDT 



"Nordkaper" that lie saw, such a sight can hardly have rendered his judgment about it more 

 certain. Those who have often observed whales tumbling about in a tempestuous sea from the 

 deck of a fast-sailing ship will know that the idea of their appearance, obtained in that way, is 

 rather imperfect ; and how little Martens was in this case enabled to make accurate observations 

 will be best seen when we find that he has committed the error, certainly very common both 

 then and afterwards, of confounding the " schwertfisch" {Delplnnus orca) with the sawfish 

 {Fristisy, so that he fancies that it was the latter he saw struggling with the " Nordkaper" off 

 Hetland ! 



^ [By the name " Schwertfisch/' the Germans mean both the fish Xi2)hias gladius, L., and the 

 cetaceous animal^ the " Killer," or " Grampus/' Delphinus orca, L. The corresponding Dutch word, 

 " Zwaardvisch/' as well as the Danish and Swedish word " Sværdfisk," have also these two signifi- 

 cations. 



Now, the double signification of these words has often caused misunderstanding and confusion, 

 and, in my opinion, it cannot be doubted but that Martens, in the case mentioned above, has allowed 

 himself to be led astray by it. He has most probably been told by some of the crew of the whaler, 

 to which he was surgeon, that the battle witnessed by them in the temptestuous sea was fought 

 between a " Nordcaper '' and a " sword-fish," but by this name the sailors did not mean the 

 " Xiphias" but the " killer." This is the more probable, as Martens adds, that he was also told by 

 them that, when in their whaling expeditions, hey fell in with many sword-fishes struggling with a 

 whale, they took care not to disturb them in fighting, but waited till the whale had succumbed to its 

 enemies, after which they would take possession of its dead body, of which the sword-fishes only devour 

 the tongue. Now this whole story, in all its details, exactly resembles those which are commonly 

 told about the killers (D. orca) ; but it cannot be applied to Xiphias gladius, Avhich, even if it really 

 ever attacks the whale, is not a gregarious fish ; besides, it would not be able to pull out the tongue 

 of the whale, nor is it found commonly, and in great numbers, so far northwards as in the sea where 

 the whale-fishery is carried on. 



When Martens was arranging the notes he had written during his voyage for publication, four 

 years after his return home, he not only transferred what he had been told about the killers to the 

 Xiphias, but, at the same time, he considered the latter to be identical with the sawfish {Prisfis), which 

 accordingly he introduces as having been engaged in the combat described, although it was certainly 

 even more unlikely to have done so than the sword-fish. 



The narrative of Captain Crow, quoted by Yarrell in his ' History of British Fishes,' vol. i, 

 p. 144, about a struggle in the sea near the Hebrides, between some "Thrashers or Fox-Sharks " 

 [Carcharias vulpes) and some sword-fishes on one side and an enormous whale on the other, may 

 perhaps be founded on a similar misunderstanding. It is true that in this narrative the thrashers 

 and the sword-fishes are distinctly mentioned as two difierent species. Nevertheless, I do not consider 

 it at all unlikely that the whale, in this case, was only attacked by enemies of one kind, and these 

 neither the Xiphias, nor the Carcharias, but killers. For the narrative itself suffers very much from 

 extensive improbabilities. Thus, there is very little probability that animals so different as sharks and 

 sword-fishes should peaceably join each other in an attack on a whale. Then it is a case of so rare 

 occurrence that the Xiphias gladias, to say nothing of the Cacharias [Alopias) vulpes, is found stray- 

 ing so far northwards as to the sea round the Hebrides, that it would be very strange indeed that a 

 great number of these fishes should be found there at the same time ; besides, the Alopias vulpes is far 

 from having a particularly powerful set of teeth, and accordingly it can, still less than any other shark, 

 be supposed to be willing to venture an attack on a living whale; finally, it must be remembered, that 



