WEST INDIAN POISONOUS FISHES. 683 



prolonged into a filament. A black spot behind tlie gill cover is 

 said to distinguish it from a somewhat similar fish, the " red-eared 

 pilchard," which has a yellow spot behind its gill cover. Schom- 

 burgk gives testimony to the poisonous properties of the " yellow- 

 tailed sprat " when found at certain periods of the year among the 

 Leeward and Virgin Islands. 



The eating of this poisonous " sprat " is said to be followed by 

 most violent symptoms and rapid death. The common saying in 

 the West Indies — that if you begin at the head you never have time 

 to finish the tail — is almost literally true. 



The eating of the roe of this " sprat " caused in Japan, in the 

 year 1884, twenty-three deaths. The victims suffered from severe 

 inflammation of the mouth and throat, strong abdominal pain, for- 

 mication in the arms and legs, disorders of vision, paralysis, convul- 

 sions, and loss of consciousness. I^ausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea 

 often occurred. Death followed in some cases in a quarter of an 

 hour, but mostly in from two to three hours. 



Lacroix describes a case of poisoning through eating the " sprat " 

 which occurred on board a French man-of-war. Out of a crew of 

 fifty men, thirty were dangerously ill and five died. The men 

 experienced strong muscular cramps in the arms and legs, nausea, 

 vomiting, and diarrhoea. Afterward congestion of the brain, de- 

 lirium, and coma supervened. 



Most of the cases of fish poisoning wdiich I have met with in the 

 West Indies have been due to eating various kinds of " snappers," 

 especially the " gray snapper." The tropical species are very nu- 

 merous and difficult to differentiate, owing to their frequent change 

 of color according to age and surroundings. In 1897, at St. Georges, 

 Grenada, tw^elve persons wdio partook of a large gray snapper were 

 attacked with severe symptoms of fish poisoning. A few hours 

 after the meal all these were suffering from pain and fullness in the 

 stomach, followed by persistent vomiting, severe cramps, watery 

 evacuations, weak, thready pulse, and labored respirations. One 

 of the victims was examined by me four months afterward, and he 

 stated that, owing to intense weakness, he had been forced to keep 

 his bed for several months, during which period he suffered from 

 various nervous disorders. He had shooting pains and tingling of 

 the limbs, dimness of vision, and quick, thready pulse. 



In 1893 seventeen persons living in Bridgetown, Barbados, 

 were attacked by similar symptoms to those mentioned above. All 

 these had eaten of a fish which had been hawked about by a fisher- 

 man, and w^iich was subsequently identified as a " gray snapper," 

 though sold under a more innocent name, 



A Spanish naval surgeon, Don Anton Jurado, while serving on 



