KAXGE OF THE SPBARFISH. 337 



to Sonthern K'ew England, latitude 42° N.; in the Eastern Atlantic, from Gibraltar, latitude 45° N., 

 to the Cape of Good Hope, latitude 30° S.; in the Indian Ocean, the Malay Archipelago, New 

 Zealand, latitude 40° S., and on the west coast of Chili and Peru. In a general way, the range is 

 between latitude 40° N. and latitude 40° S. 



The species of Tetrapturtis which we have been accustomed to call T. albidus, abundant about 

 Cuba, is not very unusual on the coast of Southern New England. Several are taken every year 

 by the Sword-fish fishermen. I have not known of their capture along the Southern Atlantic 

 coast of the United States. All I have known about were taken between Sandy Hook and the 

 eastern part of George's Banks. 



The Mediterranean Spear-fish, Tetrapturtis helone, appears to be a land-looked form, never 

 passing west of the Straits of Gibraltar. 



Names op the Sword-fish. — The names all have reference to its most prominent feature, 

 the prolonged snout. The "Sword-fish" of our own tongue, the ^^ Zwaard-fis^' of the Hollander, 

 the Italian " Sifio " and " Pesce-spada,'" the Spaniard's "Hspada," "Uspadarte," and varied by "Pe« 

 de spada" in Cuba, and the French ^^Hspadon,'" '^Dard," and iSpee de Mer," are simply variations 

 of one theme, repetitions of the "Glfidius" of ancient Italy, and ^^Xiphias," the name by which 

 Aristotle, the father of zoology, called the same fish twenty-three hundred years ago. The French 

 '^Umpereur,'" and the ^^Imperador" and "Ocean King-fish" of the Spanish and French West Indies, 

 carry out the same idea; the Eoman emperor was always represented holding a drawn sword in 

 his hand. The Portuguese names are ^'Agulha" and ^'Agulliao," meaning " needle" or " needle-fish." 



This species has been particularly fortunate in escaping the numerous redescriptions to which 

 almost all widely distributed forms have been subjected. By the writers of antiquity it was spoken 

 of under its Aristotelian name, and in the tenth edition of his System a Naturae, at the very 

 inception of binomial nomenclature, Linnaeus called it XipMas gladius. By this name it has been 

 known ever since, and only one additional name is included in its synonymy, XipMas Bondeletii, 

 Leach. 



The Sword-fish has been so long and so well known that its right to its peculiar name has 

 seldom been infringed upon. The various species of Tetrapturus have sometimes shared its title, 

 and this is not to be wondered at, since they closely resemble XipMas gladius, and the appellative 

 has frequently been applied tothefa,miljXipMidcB — the Sword fish family — whicli includes them all. 



The name " Bill-fish," usually applied to the Tetrapturus albidus, a fish of the Sword-fish family 

 often taken on our coast, and described below, is objectionable, since it is in many districts used for 

 the various species of jBetoretf^eB, the "gar-fishes" or "green-bones" {Belone tr-uncata eLud others), 

 which are members of the same fauna. " Spear-fish" is a much better name. 



The " Sail&sh,''^ Sistiophorus americanus, is called by sailors in the south the "Boohoo"or 

 " Woohoo." This is evidently a corrupted form of " Guebucu," a name, apparently of Indian origin, 

 given to the same fish in Brazil, It is possible that the Tetrapturus is also called "Boohoo," since 

 the two genera are not sufQciently unlike to impress sailors with their differences. Bleeker states 

 that in Sumaha the Malays call the related species B. gladius by the name " Joohoo" (Juhu), a 

 curious coincidence. The names may have been carried from the Malay Archipelago to South 

 America, or vice versa, by neighbors. 



In Cuba the Spear-fishes are called ^'Aguja" and " Aguja de Palada"; the Sail-fish, "Aguja, 

 Prieta" or "Aguja Voladora"; Tetrapturus albidus is specially known as the "Aguja Blanca," 

 T. albidus as the "Agujade Casta." 



In the West Indies and Florida the scabbard-fish or silvery hair-tail, TricMurus lepturus, a 

 form allied to the XipMas, though not resembling it closely in external appearance, is often called 

 22 P 



