Atlantic coast of
America from Jamaica (latitude 18 deg. N.), Cuba, and the Bermudas, to Cape
Breton (latitude 47 deg. N.). It has not been seen at Greenland, Iceland, or
Spitzbergen, but occurs, according to Collett, at the North Cape
(latitude 71 deg.). It is abundant along the coasts of western Europe,
entering the Baltic and the Mediterranean. I can find no record of the
species on the west coast of Africa south of Cape Verde, though Lutken,
who may have access to facts unknown to me, states that they occur clear
down to the Cape of Good Hope, South Atlantic in mid-ocean, to the west
coast of South America and to southern California (latitude 34 deg.), New
Zealand, and in the Indian Ocean off Mauritius.

The names of the swordfish all have reference to that prominent feature,
the prolonged snout. The "swordfish" of our own tongue, the "zwardfis"
of the Hollander, the Italian "sofia" and "pesce-spada," the Spanish
"espada" and "espadarte," varied by "pez do spada" in Cuba, and the
French "espadon," "dard," and "epee de mer," are simply variations of
one theme, repetitions of the "gladius" of ancient 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 the "ocean kingfish" 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
"aguhao," 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
subjected. 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 nomenclative, Linnaeus called it _Xiphias
gladius_. By this name it has been known ever since, and only one
additional name is included in its synonym, _Xiphias rondeletic_ of
Leach.

The swordfish 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 _Xiphiidae_--the
swordfish--which includes them all.

The name "bill-fish," usually applied to our _Tetra