216 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



are no longer visible in individuals of three feet in length. Number 

 of fin rays — 



" D. 3-40 ; A. 2-15 ; C. 17 ; P. 16 ; B. 7"* 



The sword-fish sometimes frequents our coasts, and spe- 

 cimens have occasionally been seen in the Firth of Forth, 

 at a considerable distance from the mouth of the estuary. 

 In the year 1826, an individual that measured seven feet 

 in length was found stranded on the banks between Stirling 

 and Alloa, and is now in the College Museum of Edin- 

 burgh. The sword-fish is well known in almost every part 

 of the Mediterranean, especially in that part of the sea 

 which separates Italy from Sicily. It has been seen off the 

 coast of Denmark, and several have been taken in various 

 parts of the Baltic of an enormous size. Mr Yarrell states 

 that " this fish is supposed to entertain great hostility to 

 the whale, and accounts of conflicts that have been wit- 

 nessed are recorded by mariners.'" Captain Crow, in a 

 work lately published, relates the following as having oc- 

 curred on a voyage to Memel : — " One morning during a 

 calm, when near the Hebrides, all hands were called up at 

 three a.m., to witness a battle between several of the fish 

 called thrashers, or fox-sharks (Carcharias vulpes), and 

 some sword-fish on one side, and an enormous whale on the 

 other. It was in the middle of summer, and the weather 

 being clear, and the fish close to the vessel, we had a fine 

 opportunity of witnessing the contest As soon as the 

 whale's back appeared above the water, the thrashers spring- 

 ing several yards into the air, descended with great violence 

 upon the object of their rancour, and inflicted upon him the 

 most severe slaps with their long tails, the sound of which 

 resembled the reports of muskets fired at a distance. The 



* Jenyn's Vertebrate Animals (a most accurate description). 



