spines all stood up stiffly. Thus the spines presented a condition such that 

 anything which touched them would easily impale itself on them. If at s>ich 

 times the spines were touched vdth a piece of cloth or a cork, the spines im- 

 mediately pierced the material and the fin membrane covering the spines was 

 seen to tear very easily. Ordinarily aieo which are brought in by fishermen 

 have the fin membranes all torn to shreds. This shows that while the fisherman 

 was handling the fish something came in contact with the spines from time to 

 time. The ease with which this skin tears is highly significant. When the 

 spines pierce something, the membrane tears simultaneously, the poison gland 

 is also ruptured, and its poisonous contents for the first time obtain passage 

 to the outside to be transmitted along the concavities of the spine and In- 

 jected into the -'round. This ir the only possible method, for the spine to 

 fulfill its function where there are no muscles to apply pressure, no ducts to 

 convey the secretion, and no grooves to conduct it. 



Figure U shows a cross-section of a spine the skin of which has been 

 torn. The part where the body of the spine and the gland join is ruptured 

 and it can be clearly seen how the colls of the gland release their contents 

 from this portion. It can also be seen that the glandular cells near this 

 ruptured portion contain a comparatively large number of globules. It is 

 clear that with the rupture of the cells these too find their way out and are 

 injected into the wound caused by the spine. To sum up, the poison of the 

 ^j.go is injected passively by the tearing of the skin and the rupture of the 

 poison gland when the spines pierce sowe object, Pawlowsky made no mention 

 of this method of injection, but the poison glands of the fishes which he 

 studied, all of which are listed below, vrore of the sanie general category which 

 he called Drtisen yo n def kompakten. mehrzelligen . I would like to place the 

 poison glands of the aieo in this category. The species whose poison glands 

 belong to this type are as follows: 



Family Scorpaenldae 



daruma okoge 

 oni okoze 

 mino kasaga 

 ( kasago ) 

 fusa kasago 

 ( mebaru ) 

 takenoko mebaru 

 kasago 



Synance ja grqs a 



Pelor .-^sn onicum 



Pteroic lunuj.ata 



Scorpaen a porous 



S. fimbriata 



Se bastes norwegicus 



Sebaatodes .loyneri . . . 



Sebasticus marmoratus 



Puwlowslcy 



( hatahata ) 



&i£o 



Family Trachinidae 

 Trachinus draco 



Family Teuthldao 

 Teuthis fusee scans . . . . 



Family Slluridae 



Amemiya 



(gonzjJJk 

 namazu ) 



( gonzui 

 nanazu) 



Schibeodes 



220 



