THE POISON OF THE MURRY 



setting up inflammation in the parts adjacent to the 

 wound. The murry, in fact, is a poisonous fish. 



This has been denied. If certain bites heal quickly, 

 without complications, others are more painful and 

 more serious, and although no fatal case seems to have 

 been recorded, they give rise to alarming symptoms. 

 Here, doubtless, we have evidence of differences of 

 sensitivity and resistance varying according to the 

 nature of the persons bitten, and probably variations 

 and differences in the murry as regards poisonous 

 capacity. But there is no doubt that in their mouths 

 they have a mucus which covers also the surface of 



Fig. 24. — Weever. 



A poisonous fish which may attain a length 

 nearly two feet. 



of 



the teeth and possesses toxic qualities. When the 

 creature bites, it poisons the wound it causes by 

 leaving in that wound a certain amount of this mucus. 

 Hence, the murry provides us with an example of a 

 fish that poisons by biting, like the viper or rattle- 

 snake among snakes. Its poisoning apparatus is not so 

 efficient as that of the snakes, but it possesses the 

 same essential qualities. 



However, the murry is not the only fish to have 

 such a power of poisoning. There are many others. 

 Only, in these, the poison organs are usually spines 

 occurring in different places on the surface of the 

 body — the fins, tail, or gill-covers. Certain species, 

 indeed, hog-fish, sting-fish, and whip-tailed sting- 

 rays, have as bad a reputation as the murry them- 



145 



