240 
AMERICAN FISHES . 
the Spaniards “ Espada ,” and “ Espadarte,” varied by “ Pez de spada” 
in Cuba; and the French “jE spadon,” “Hard” and “ Epee de Mer,” 
are simply variations of one theme, repetitions of the “ Gladius ” of an¬ 
cient Italy, and “ Xiphius,” the name by which Aristotle the father of 
zoology, called the same fish twenty-three hundred years ago. The French 
“ Empereur” and the “ Imperador,” and “Ocean King-fish” of the 
Spanish and French West Indies, carry out the same idea, for the Roman 
emperor was always represented holding a drawn sword in his hand. The 
Portuguese names are “ Agulha” “ Agulhao,” 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 sub¬ 
jected. By the writers of antiquity, it was spoken of under its Aristotelian 
name, and in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae, at the very inception 
of binomial nomenclature, Linnaeus called it Xiphias gladius. By this 
name it has been known ever since, and only one additional name is 
included in its synonymy, Xiphias Rondeletii of 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 Xiphias gladius, and the appellative has 
frequently been applied to the family Xiphiidce —the Sword-fish family— 
which includes them all. 
The name “ Bill-fish,” usually applied to the Tetraptmais albidus, a fish 
of the Sword-fish family often taken on our coast, must be pronounced 
objectionable, since it is in many districts used for the various species of 
Belonidce , the “gar-fishes” or “green-bones” ( Belone truncata and 
others), which are members of the same faunas. “ Spear-fish ” is a much 
better name. 
The “Sail-fish,” Histiophorus 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 sufficiently unlike to impress sailors with 
their differences. Bleeker states that in Sumatra the Malays call the re¬ 
lated species, H. gladius, by the name “Joohoo” ( Juhu ), a curious 
coincidence. The names may have been carried from the Malay Archi¬ 
pelago, to South America, or vice versa, by mariners. 
