330 FISHES. [Chap. X. 
geners, it is spotted with blue. The fish from which the 
engraving has been made, was procured by Dr. Tem- 
THE SWORD-FISH (HISTIOPHORUS IMMACULAT0S). 
pleton, near Colombo. The species was previously 
known only by a single specimen captured in the 
Eed Sea, by Kiippell, who conferred upon it the specific 
designation of " immaculatus." 1 
Mlian, in his graphic account of the strange forms 
presented by the fishes inhabiting the seas around 
Ceylon, says that one in particular is so grotesque in 
its configuration, that no painter would venture to 
depict it ; its main peculiarity being that it has feet or 
claws rather than fins. 2 The annexed drawing 3 may 
1 Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 71. PL remarked, that in it, whilst the first 
15. and second dorsal spines are 
2 Tl65as ye f^v %tj\^s irrepvyia. situated as usual oyer the eye (and 
— Lib. xvi. c. 18. form, one the angling bait of 
3 The fish from which this draw- the fish, the other the crest 
ing of the Gheironectes was made, above the nose), the third is at an 
was taken near Colombo, and from unusual distance from the second, 
the peculiarities which it presents it and is not separated, as in the 
is in all probability a new and unde- other species, from the soft fin by a 
scribed species. Dr. G-untheb has notch. 
