288 



CHAPTER XVIL 



VENOMS IN THE ANIMAL SEBJES (continued). 



%—VENOMO US FISHES. 



The means of defence in fishes are extremely varied. Some 

 species (torpedoes or electric rays, electric eels) destroy their enemies 

 by electric discharges ; others are provided with true poison-glands 

 and inoculatory organs, usually represented by opercular spines or 

 by the fin-rays. The species of the genus Murccna, however, 

 possess a poison-apparatus connected with the buccal teeth, as in 

 the case of snakes. 



It has been clearly established by Bottard^ that at least three 

 very distinct types of venomous fishes exist, according as the venom- 

 apparatus is : — 



(1) Entirely closed {Synanceia type) ; (2) half closed {Thalasso- 

 pliryne type) ; (3) in more or less direct communication with the 

 exterior {Trachinus and Scorpcpua type). 



The greater part of the following statements has been borrowed 

 from the excellent work of the author referred to, from the writings 

 of A. Corre," the fellowship thesis of Henry Coutiere,'^ and the 

 magnificent atlas published at St. Petersburg in 1886 by P. Savt- 

 schenko, of the Russian Imperial Navy. 



Except in the case of the species of MurcBiia, the venom of fishes 



' " Les poissons venimeux," These Paris, 1889. 



- " Poissons venimeux et poissons veneneux," Archives de Physioloffie, May, 

 1872 ; Archives de viedeciiie navale, February, 1865, and January, 1881. 

 ^ " Poissons venimeux et poissons veneneux," Thhsc Paris, 1899. 



