356 NATTJEAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Considerable quantities of Sword-fish are annually salted in barrels in Portland, Gloucester, 

 Boston, New Bedford, and New London. Sword-fish pickled in brine is in considerable demand 

 in certain sections of the country, and particularly in Lower Connecticut Valley, where a barrel 

 may be found in almost every grocery store. By many persons it is considered much more 

 palatable than salted mackerel. 



The Sail-pish — Histiophoetjs ameeicanus. 



Strange as it may seem, the American species of Histiophorus has never been studied by an 

 ichthyologist, and no attempt has ever been made to describe it or to compare it carefully witli 

 the similar species occurring in the Indian Ocean. The identity of the two has been assumed 

 by Dr. G-unther,^ but since no American specimens have ever been seen by this authority, I hesi- 

 tate for the present to follow his lead. 



The history of the Sail-fish in ichthyological literature is as follows : 



The first allusion to the genus occurs in Piso's "Historia Naturalis Brasiliae," printed at 

 Amsterdam in 1648. In this book^ may be found an identifiable though rough figure of the 

 American species, accompanied by a few lines of description, which, though good, when the fact 

 that they were written in the seventeenth century is brought to mind, are of no value for critical 

 comparison. 



The name given to the Brazilian Sail-fish by Marcgrave, the talented young German who 

 described the fishes in the book referred to, and who afterward sacrificed his life in exploring the 

 unknown fields of American zoology, was Guebucu brasiliensibus. The use of the name Ouebucu is 

 interesting, since it gives a clew to the derivation of the name "Boohoo," by which this fish, and 

 probably the Spear-flshes, are known to English-speaking sailors in the tropical Atlantic. 



Sail-fishes were observed in the East Indies by Eenard and Valentijn, explorers of that region 

 from 1680 to 1720, and by other eastern voyagers. No species of the genus was, however, sys- 

 tematically described until 1786, when a stuffed specimen from the Indian Ocean, eight feet long, 

 was taken to London, where it still remains in the collections of the British Museum. From this 

 specimen M. Broussonet prepared a description, giving it the name Scomber gladius, rightly 

 regarding it as a species allied to the mackerel. 



In 1803 Lac6p^de established the genus Histiophorus for the reception of this species. 



When Cuvier and Valenciennes published the eighth volume of their Natural History of 

 Fishes, they ignored the name gladius, which had been given to the East Indian fish by Brous- 

 sonet, redescribing it under the name Histiophorus indicus. At the same time they founded 

 another species upon the figure in Piso's Natural History of Brazil, already mentioned. This they 

 called Histiophorus americanus. 



'Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum, ii, 1860, p. 513. 



2 1648. Piso and Mabcgeavk : 



Historia Naturalis | BrasiliiB, | Auspioio et Beneficio | lUustrisa. | Mauritii Com. Nassau | iUius ProvinciiB et 

 Maris snmmi Prsofeoti Adoruata: | In qua | Non tantum Plantae et Animalia, sed et In- | digenarum morbi, ingenia et 

 mores desoribuntur et | Iconibus qungentus iUustrantur | (Elaborate engraved title-page, upon which the preceding 

 inscription is insertied upon a scroll, the following upon a shell. ) Lvgdvn Batauorum, | Apud Franciscum Hackium, | 

 ot I Amstelodami, | Apud Lud. Elzevirium. 1648. | 1 pp. (12), 122, (2), (8), 293, (7). 



Second Htle. 

 Guilielmi Pisonis, M. D. | Lugduno-Batavi, | de Medicina BrasiUensi | Libri Quatnot: | I. De Aere, Aquis & 

 Iiocis I II. De Morbis Endemiis. | III. Venenatls & Antidotis. | IV. De Facultatibus Simpliclum | et Georgi Marc- 

 gravi de Liebstad, | Misnici Germani, | Historise Eerum Naturalium | Brasilise | Libri octo : | Quorum | Tres priores 

 agunt de Plantis. | Quartus de Piscibus. | Quintus de Avibus. | Sextus de Quadrupedibns & Serpentibus. | Septimus de 

 Insectis. | Octavus de Ipsa Eegione, & IUius Incolis. | Cum | Appendioe de Tapuyis, et Chilensibus. | loannes de 

 Lset, I Autwerpianus, | In ordinem digessit & Annotationes addidit, & varies ab Auctore | Omissa supplevit & 

 llustravit. 



