SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 39 



body; a snout consisting of a long, hard, thin process, beset with numerous strong 

 teeth along each lateral edge; minute jaw teeth; inferior gill-slits and nostrils; 

 wide spiracles, situated behind eyes; large dorsal fins, pectoral fins with front 

 margin free and not extending to head; and well developed caudal. One genus, 

 viviparous. 



Genus PRISTIS Latham. Saw-fishes. 



This genus, the characters of which are indicated above, contains two Amer- 

 ican species, one of which occurs on our South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Species 

 usually marine, but sometimes entering fresh water; found chiefly in shallow 

 sounds and rivers with sandy bottom. {Pristis, one who saws.) 



13. PRISTIS PECTINATUS Latham. 

 "Saw-fish" 



Priatia pectinatua Latham, Transactions Linnsean Society, ii, 278, 1794; ocean. Jenkins, 1885, 11; Beaufort. 



Jordan, 1886, 26; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 84; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 60, pi. viii, fig. 27; 



1898, 2749 (Beaufort). Wilson, 1900, 355; Beaufort. 

 Priatia antiquorum, Yarrow, 1877, 217; Bogue Sound, Core Sound, and New River. 



Diagnosis. — -"Saw" with 24 to 32 teeth on each side; first dorsal fin opposite ventrals; 

 second dorsal about as large as first; caudal fin without lower lobe. Color: dark brown above, 

 pale yellow below, (pectinatus, comb-toothed.) 



Fig. 7. Saw-fish. Pristis pectinaius. 



This curious fish inhabits the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and east coast 

 of the United States as far north as Chesapeake Bay. Its maximum length is 

 about 20 feet, the saw representing rather less than .33 the total length. The 

 flesh is coarse and rarely eaten; the skin may be made into a kind of leather. The 

 species is very destructive to fishermen's nets. The young are born in summer, 

 and number at least 20; they are able to swim at birth, although the saw and 

 teeth are at first soft like leather. 



This fish is not rare in the sounds and brackish rivers of North Carolina, and 

 large specimens (16 or more feet long) have been taken there. In the Beaufort 

 region and at Cape Lookout the species is observed almost every year, and some 

 seasons is common. The fishermen avoid it and endeavor to keep it out of their 

 nets. A "saw" in the Beaufort laboratory bears 28 pairs of teeth and is 3 feet 

 1 inch long from tip to the posterior pair of teeth. 



Lawson (1709), when he mentioned the "sword-fish" among the fishes of 

 North Carolina, probably had the saw-fish in mind. Brickell (1737), who usually 

 copied from Lawson without credit or discrimination, listed the "sword-fish or 

 saw-fish", gave a figure of the sword-fish (Xiphias), and noted that the fish 

 attacked whales, a habit ascribed to the sword-fish but a hardly conceivable one 

 of the saw-fish. Yarrow (1877) reported the saw-fish as hostile to porpoises in 

 North Carolina, an observation which needs verification. 



