the gonads. And, If fish caught in one locality are found to be extrenely 

 poisonous, it may be inferred that these are mature fish uhlch have schooled 

 for spanning with the spawning season, and that the poison has become virulent 

 with the maturity of the gonads o Although these points cannot be immediately 

 confirmed, these are interesting phenomena which suggest the truth. On the 

 other hand, in regards to the cause of poisoning by the meat, was poison from 

 the viscera included through careless preparation of the meat i^ich was non- 

 poisonous? Or does the meat contain a small amount of poison which, if taken 

 in large amounts, shows symptoms of poisoning? Although it is not known 

 irtiich of these two possibilities are responsible, poisoning ctises which have 

 resulted from eating meat are as described. Moreover, there were no deaths 

 among these patients, but several days of rest were required because of con- 

 aiderable suffering. Because of these points, to use this fish iomediately as 

 a sovirce of food is dangerous and may result in reasonable ham. The future 

 use of this fish will depend upon whether or not the various internal organs 

 are poisonous. If only a part of the viscera is toxic, the meat can be 

 utilized. If the neat is also poisonous, it may be possible to render the meat 

 non-poisonous by determining the nature of the poison and applying this knowl- 

 edge to developing special methods of preparation, such as dry^.ng the fish. 

 In this way, this abvxndant and easily caught fish can be used as a source of 

 food. 



I am at present studying poisonous viscera and the composition of the 

 poison, and plan to publish my results at a later date. 



References 



1. Research Institute for Natural Resources No. 2, Research Results No. 55 



2. Seals, A., 1912. Some poisonous Philippine fishes. Philip. Jour. Sci. 

 Vol. 7, No. A, pp. 289-291 



3. lasukawB, I^, 193^: Report of the Investigation of Pbisonous Fishes of 

 the South Seas. South Seas Govemment^General. 



4.. ftetsuo, Rikuichi. 193A: Studies on the Poisonous Fishes of Jaluit. 

 Collected Papers on the Investigation of Endemic Diseases in the South 

 Sea Islands. Second edition, pp. 309-326. South Seas Government-General 



5. Kawakubo and Kibichi, 19A2: Animal Experiments on the Fish Poisons from 

 the South Seas and an Example of Poisoning Symptoms. Navy Ifedical Journal 

 Vol. 31, No. 8, pp. 0'^5 



6. Okada, Yaichiro and Kiyornat>su Matsubara. 1931: Keys to the Fishes and Fish- 

 like Animals of Japan, p. 219 



7. Hiyaaa, Yoehio, 19/^3: Report of the Investigation of Poisonous Fishes of 



the South Sea5, Nissan. 



8. Jordan, D.S., S. Tanaka, and C.J.O. Snyder. 1913: Catalogue of the Fishes 

 of Japan, Jur. Col. Sci. Tokyo Imp. Uni., Vol. 33, Art. 1, p. 164. Fig. 120 



9. Quoy, J.R.C. and P. Gaimard, 182^^: Voy. Uranie, Zool., pt. 7., Dec. 18, 

 p. 307. 



10, Fowler, H.W. 1931: Fishes of the Philippine Islands and Adjacent Seas. U.S. 

 Nat, Mu3. Bull. 100, Vol. 11, p. 115. 



11. Pukuda, Tokushi, and Iwao Tani. 19iU.: Investigation of Puffers. Japanese 

 Medical Magazine, No. 3253, pp. 7-13 



217 



