SINCE the seventeenth century, authentic accounts are on record of the spearing of ships by the sword-fish (Xiphias) and its relatives the spear- or marlin-spike-fishes (Makaira) and the sail-fishes (Istiophorus). The stories of these attacks, their effects and their causes, with much incidental information, have been gathered together and discussed in a 100-page monograph, illustrated by seven plates and several text-figures, by Dr. E. W. Gudger (Mem. Roy. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 12, 215–315; 1940). The attacks, which have occurred in all parts of tropical seas, are delivered with force, for not only have ships been shaken from stem to stern by the blow, but also the penetrations recorded include the piercing of the copper covering, a 4-inch birch plank, and 6 inches of the timbers of the brig Tinker of New York, and the remarkable case of the South Seas whaler Fortune of Plymouth, Mass., the timbers of which beneath their copper sheath were penetrated through 18˙5 inches of hard wood, 14˙5 inches being of dense oak. The speed of the swordfishes is, however, great, and that together with the size of the fish, which may weigh 1,200 lb. (Zane Grey's marlin), and the fine lines of the sword itself, accounts for the power and effect of the blow. The author describes the fishes as timid rather than pugnacious, and concludes that the attacks are generally made either by fishes which have been wounded and are dashing about in pain and fright, or inadvertently when the fishes are, particularly in darkness, following and attacking a shoal offishes upon which they are preying.