100 THE NATUKALIST IN BERMUDA. 



in March, 1850. It is correctly figured in De Kay's New 

 York Faunai 



SwoED Fish [Xiphias gladius). I have not met with 

 this fish in the Bermudas, and the only opportunity I ever 

 had of witnessiag the effect of the amazing power of the 

 X. gladius occurred to me on the 17th February, 1849, 

 when the Bermudian schooner '' Earl Dundonald " arrived 

 in the port of Hamilton, haviag been pierced by one of 

 these formidable fish off the coast of British Guiana, the 

 particulars of which occurrence appeared in the Bermuda 

 Eoyal Gazette of Feb. 27, 1849, in the following paragraph. 

 " The schooner, ' Earl Dundonald,' belongiug to D. E. 

 Tucker, Esq., of Hamilton, sailed from Bermuda on the 11th 

 Dec. last, under the charge of Capt. Wm. S. Doe. — Passen- 

 gers : Eobert A. Tucker, — Brown, of New York, and 

 B. W. Watlington, Esqrs. When about 70 miles to wind- 

 ward of Demerara, and runniug down for that port, the 

 vessel going six or seven knots, with a strong breeze, the 

 man who was steering observed, for a short time, that the 

 vessel broached to a little, and that she did not answer the 

 hehn readUy. In the course, however, of two or . three 

 minutes the vessel was again under the control of the 

 helm, and no further notice was taken of the occurrence. 

 Subsequently a very small quantity of water was observed 

 on the cabin floor, and it seemed to proceed from the locker, 

 under and abaft of the cabin ladder ; Capt. Doe was 

 induced to examiae the locker, and found the bill of a fish,, 

 about 9^ inches inside the ceiling on the larboard side, and 

 so firmly fixed that it could not be moved. The bill is of a 

 fish called by mariners the " bill fish." 



On boarding the vessel, in company with several gentle- 



