80 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
“Another story which is undoubtedly 
purely mythical although it has an astonish¬ 
ingly wide credence, is that of the sword¬ 
fish and the thresher. 
“I have personally interviewed a number 
of men who were reported to have witnessed 
such a combat,—swordfish against the 
whale—but have never found one who had 
seen a swordfish or had any evidence of one 
being there, although the killer could easily 
be seen. 
“The killer’s habit of forcing open a 
whale’s mouth and eating the tongue from 
the living animal is an extraordinary meth¬ 
od of attack. I had always been skepti¬ 
cal as to the accuracy of this report until 
my own experiences with the gray whales in 
Korea, where its truth was clearly demon¬ 
strated. 
“Of thirty-five gray whales which I ex¬ 
amined especially, seven had the tongues 
eaten to a greater or less extent and one 
had several large semi-circular bites in the 
left lower lip. 
“The killers do not confine their atten¬ 
tion to the tongue, for almost every whale 
which was brought in had the tips and pos¬ 
terior edges of the fins and flukes more or 
less torn. In several specimens fresh teeth 
marks were plainly visible.” 
Dr. F. A. I meas, Director of the American 
Museum of Natural History, examined many 
whales at the shore whaling station of New¬ 
foundland. He found that the majority of the 
sulphur-bottom whales brought in bore marks 
of the teeth of killers, but saw no injuries that 
could have been inflicted by either swordfish 
or thresher. 
Another naturalist, a specialist on sea life, 
Dr. Robert Cushman Murphy, who spent eleven 
months aboard the whaler Daisy, and several 
months at one of the Antarctic shore whaling 
stations, scorns the stories about swordfishes 
and threshers as enemies of the whale. He tells 
me that the encounters he has seen at sea were 
clearly attributable to killers. 
During my own service of ten years as resi¬ 
lient naturalist of the Albatross, the fearful 
work of the killer among the whales was brought 
to our attention many times by whalers in Bering 
Sea and by pelagic sealers along the coast of 
Japan. We never succeeded in getting a straight 
story about either swordfish or thresher, while 
the accounts of the killers seldom varied from 
the known facts. 
Swordfish strike ships by accident when seek¬ 
ing elusive schools of fishes. One whaleman 
tells of schools of albacore seeking the shelter 
of a becalmed whaler to avoid the attack of a 
swordfish swimming deeply beneath them: 
“It was apparent that he feared to make 
his upward dart against the bright copper 
bottom of the strange monster floating 
above.” 
“The swordfish approached closer and the 
albacore darted away. The swordfish was al¬ 
most instantly in the midst of the flying throng, 
and with cut and thrust of his sword, too rapid 
for the eye to follow, he killed several instantly. 
As I observed his motions I saw an explanation 
why the swordfish occasionally strikes the bot¬ 
tom of a vessel and drives his formidable 
weapon through the planks. It is simply done 
in his over-eagerness to catch his prey.” 
Many oceanic fishes have the habit of shelter¬ 
ing in schools beside or under slow moving 
vessels, and thus bring the vessel in line with 
the rush of the hungry swordfish. They also 
seek the shelter of whales, thus subjecting the 
latter to the chance of being struck. 
Several whalemen and sailors who afterwards 
became authors, have told the killer story with 
due conservatism, but when they come to the 
matter of assistance from the swordfish and the 
thresher they fall off badly, merely reciting the 
old fable with variations. Their fascinating 
books are marred with statements on natural 
history that will not stand critical examination. 
THE SMOOTH BUFFER 
(Lagocephalus lacvigatus ) 
A MONG the more or less oddly shaped fishes 
which visit our shores late in summer is 
the smooth puffer. Although of rather 
rare occurrence, specimens have from time to 
time been brought to the Aquarium where un¬ 
fortunately they did not long survive. 
A specimen taken at Sandy Hook in October, 
1922, by the well-boat Seahorse has however 
exhibited an unexpected hardiness in captivity 
which is most gratifying. The accompanying 
photograph by Mr. Sanborn is probably the 
only one ever made of the living fish. 
While specimens of the smooth puffer hither¬ 
to received at the Aquarium have not exceeded 
fifteen inches in length, it is known to grow 
much larger, Mr. Mowbray of the Aquarium 
staff having speared a three-foot specimen in 
Bermuda. 
