338 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



" Sword-fish." The body of this fish is shaped like the blade of a saber, and its skin has a bright 

 metallic luster like that of i>olished steel; hence the name. 



The various species of sticklebacks, Oasterosteus aculeatus and Pygosteus pungitlus, are known 

 as "Little Sword-fish" by the boys of Portland, Maine, and viciaily. The spines, damaging in the 

 extreme to small fingers of tyro fish-gatherers, give reason to the name. 



Sail-fish appear to occur throughout the tropical and southern parts of the Atlantic and the 

 Indian Ocean. Its names, wherever it may be found, point to the most striking characters. In 

 Marcgrave's time the Portuguese of Brazil called it ^^Bicuda," referring to its snout, and Eochefort, 

 in his "History of the West Indies," calls it ^'■Becasse de Mer"; a hecasse being a long snouted bird 

 like a woodcock or a snipe, while in the Malay Archipelago the Dutch call it ^'Zee-snip" or "Sea- 

 snipe." The Malays of Amboyna called it the " I]can-l-:yer" or Paa-fish, in allusion to the fan-like 

 movements of its dorsal fin, while those of Sumatra called it " Ilcan-jegan" or "Sail-fish." The 

 French " Voilier" and the Dutch " Zeyl-fisch" and " Bezaanfisch" mean the same; a hezaan being the 

 sail upon the mizzen mast of a ship. The family name is '■^Myl-meen,^'' signifying "Peacock-fish." 

 The names "Boohoo" and " Woohoo" have already been referred to. 



Geographical distribution and movements. — The Sword-fish was known to Pliny, who 

 wrote: "The Sword-fish, called .in Greeke Xiphias, that is to say in Latin Gladius, a sword, hath 

 a beake or bill sharp pointed, wherewith he will drive through the sides and plankes of a ship, 

 and bouge them so, that they shall sinke withall. The experience whereof is scene in the ocean, 

 neare to a place in Mauritania called Gotta, which is not far from the river Lixos."' 



Many other classical and mediaeval writers made curious allusions to the Sword-fish. The 

 summary of their views is given by Bloch, and is quoted below. This summary is very satisfactory 

 though the skepticism of this author is sometimes a little excessive : 



"This fish is found in the North Sea and the Baltic, but is rare in those waters. In the Med- 

 iterranean, however, it is very abundant. It lives for the most part in the Atlantic, where in 

 winter it is found in mid-ocean. In spring it appears on the coast of Sicily, where its eggs are 

 deposited on the bottom in great numbers. However, according to what I have been told by the 

 illustrious Chevalier Hamilton, it is never seen in that region more than three or four feet long. 

 The larger ones, often weighing four or five hundred pounds, and eighteen to twenty feet long, are 

 found on the coast of Calabria, where they appear in June and July. Pliny remarked that they 

 often exceed the dolphin in size. . . . _ 



"Various writers have spoken of the 'Emperor of the Sea' as occurring in the Baltic. Olea- 

 rius and Sohelhammer record its capture near Holstein ; Schoneveld mentions one from Mecklen- 

 burg ; Walbaum one from the vicinity of Llibeck ; Hanover and Klein one from the vicinity of 

 Danzig; Hartmann one from near Pillau, and Wolf another taken near Konigsberg. 



"One mentioned by Schoneveld as taken near Mecklenburg was so large that it required two 

 strong horses to draw it from the water. The body, without the sword, was eleven feet long, the 

 sword three. The eyes were as large as hens' eggs, and the tail was two feet broad. Of four seen 

 by Professor Koelpin during his stay at Greifswald, one measured more than three and one-half 

 feet in circumference. . . . 



"These fish, according to the story of the Chevalier Hamilton, always appear in pairs as they 

 approach Messina, a female and a male together. 



" This fish lives upon marine plants and fish. It has such a terrible defensive weapon that 

 other voracious fishes do not dare to attack it. According to Aristotle, it is, like the tunny, tor- 

 mented by an insect, and in its fury leaps out of the sea and even into vessels. According to 



' Holland's Pliny, ii, p. 488. 



