198 



POISONOUS FISH. 



fishing" hook of singular 

 construction. This last is 

 represented by the right- 

 hand figure of the accom- 

 panying woodcut. It is 

 seven inches in leno-th, 

 made of some hard wood^ 

 with an arm four and a half 

 inches long^ turning up at 

 a sharp angle^ and tipped 

 with a slightly curved barb 

 of tortoise-shell projecting horizontally inwards an 

 inch and a half. 



During the afternoon one of the crew of a boat 

 upon the reef, while incautiously handling a frog- 

 fish (Batrac'hvs) which he had found under a stone^ 

 received two punctures at the base of the thumb 

 from the sharp dorsal spines partially concealed by 

 the skin. Immediately severe pain was produced 

 which quickly increased until it became intolerable^ 

 and the man lay down and rolled about in agony. 

 He was taken on board the ship in a state of great 

 weakness. The hand was considerably swollen_, with 

 the pain shootings up the arm to the axilla^ but the 

 glands there did not become affected. The pulse fell 

 to as low as 40 beats in the minute^ with a constant 

 desire to vomit. Large dozes of opium in the course 

 of time afforded relief^ but a fortnight elapsed before 

 the man was again fit for duty. 



June 23rd, — I accompanied Mr. Brown^ the 



