SWORD-FISH ; SPEAR-FISH AND CUTLASS-FISH 
2 55 
is discarded and the species of America is assumed to be identical with 
that of the Indian Ocean. 
The materials in the National Museum consist of a skeleton and a 
painted plaster cast of the specimen taken near Newport, R. I., in 1872, 
and a drawing made from the same, while fresh, by Mr. J. H. Blake. 
The occurrence of the Sail-fish is, as has been already stated, very 
unusual. Marcgrave saw it in Brazil as early as 1648. Sagra and Poey 
mention that it has been seen about Cuba, and Schomburgk includes it in 
his Barbadoes list. The specimen in the United States National Museum 
was taken off Newport, R. I., in August, 1872, and given to Prof. Baird 
by Mr. Samuel Powell, of Newport. No others were observed in our 
waters until March, 1878, when, according to Mr. Neyle Habersham, of 
Savannah, Ga., two were taken by a vessel between Savannah and Indian 
River, Fla., and were brought to Savannah, where they attracted much 
attention in the market. In 1873, according to Mr. E. G. Blackford, a 
specimen in a very mutilated condition was brought from Key West to 
New York City. 
No observations have been madfc in this country, and recourse must be 
had to the statements of observers in the other hemisphere. 
In the life of Sir Stamford Raffles, is printed a letter from Singapore, 
under date of November 30, 1822, with the following statement: 
“ The only amusing discovery we have recently made is that of a sailing 
fish, called by the natives, Ikan layer , of about ten or twelve feet long, 
which hoists a mainsail, and often sails in the manner of a native boat, 
and with considerable swiftness. I have sent a set of the sails home, as 
they are beautifully cut and form a model for a fast-sailing boat. When 
a school of these are under sail together they are frequently mistaken for 
a fleet of native boats.” 
The fish referred to is in all likelihood Histiophorus gladius , a species 
very closely related to, if not identical, with our own. 
The Cutlass-fish, Trichiurus Upturns, unfortunately known in Eastern 
Florida and at Pensacola as the “ Sword-fish”; at New Orleans, in the 
St. John’s River, and at Brunswick, Ga., it is known as the “Silver Eel,” 
on the coast of Texas as “ Sabre-fish,” while in the Indian River region 
it is called the “ Skipjack.” No one of these names is particularly appli¬ 
cable, and the latter being pre-occupied, it would seem advantageous to 
use in this country the name “ Cutlass-fish,” which is current for the same 
species in the British West Indies. 
