cently 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 school 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_

The cutlass-fish, _Trichiurus lepturus_, unfortunately known in eastern
Florida and at Pensacola as the swordfish; at New Orleans, in the St.
John's River, and at Brunswick, Georgia, it is known as the "silver
eel"; on the coast of Texas as "saber-fish," while in the Indian River
region it is called the "skip-jack." No one of these names is
particularly applicable, and, the latter being preoccupied, 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.

Its appearance is very remarkable on account of its long, compressed
form and its glistening, silvery color. The name "scabbard-fish," which
has been given to an allied species in Europe, would be very proper also
for this species, for in general shape and appearance it looks very like
the metallic scabbard of the sword. It attains the length of four or
five feet, though ordinarily not exceeding twenty-five or thirty inches.
This species is found in the tropical Atlantic, on the coast of Brazil,
in the Gulf of California, the West Indies, the Gulf of Mexico, and
north to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where, during the past ten years,
specimens have been occasionally taken. In 1845 one was found at
Wellfleet, Massachusetts; and in the Essex Institute is a specimen which
is said to have been found on the shores of the Norway Frith many years
ago, and during the past decade it has become somewhat abundant in
southern England. It does not, however, enter the Mediterranean. Some
writers believed the allied species, _Trichiurus haumela_, found in the
Indian Ocean and Archipelago and in various parts of the Pacific, to be
specifically the same.

The cutlass-fish is abundant in the St. John's River, Florida, in the
Indian River region, and in the Gulf of Mexico. Several