TALES OF FISHES 



varied by "pez do spada" in Cuba, and the French 

 "espadon," "dard," and "epee de mer," are simply 

 variations of one theme, repetitions of the "gladius" 

 of ancient Italy and "xiphius," the name by which 

 Aristotle, the father of zoology, called the same fish 

 twenty-three hundred years ago. The French "em- 

 pereur" and the "imperador" and the "ocean king- 

 fish" of the Spanish and French West Indies, carry 

 out the same idea, for the Roman Emperor was al- 

 ways represented holding a drawn sword in his 

 hand. The Portuguese names are "aguhao," mean- 

 ing "needle," or "needle-fish." 



This species has been particularly fortunate in 

 escaping the numerous redescriptions to which al- 

 most all widely distributed forms have been sub- 

 jected. By the writers of antiquity it was spoken 

 of under its Aristotelian name, and in the tenth 

 edition of his Systema Naturop, at the very inception 

 of binomial nomenclative, Sinnaeus called it Xiphias 

 gladius. By this name it has been known ever 

 since, and only one additional name is included in 

 its synonym, Xiphias rondeletic of Leach. 



The swordfish has been so long and so well known 

 that its right to its peculiar name has seldom been 

 infringed upon. The various species of Tetraptunis 

 have sometimes shared its title, and this is not to 

 be wondered at, since they closely resemble Xiphias 

 gladius, and the appellative has frequently been ap- 

 plied to the family Xiphiidce — the swordfish — which 

 includes them all. 



The name "bill-fish," usually applied to our 

 Tetraptunis albidus, a fish of the swordfish family, 

 often taken on our coast, must be pronounced ob- 



154 



