Adaptations of Fishes 55 
the writer has tested, is very meager and bitter, having a de- 
cidedly offensive taste. It is suspected, probably justly, of be- 
ing poisonous. In the globefishes the flesh is always more or 
less poisonous, that of Tetraodon hispidus, called muki-muki, 
or death-fish, in Hawaii, is reputed as excessively so. The poi- 
sonous fishes have been lately studied in detail by Dr. Jacques 
Pellegrin, of the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle at Paris. He 
shows that any species of fish may be poisonous under certain 
circumstances, that under certain conditions certain species are 
poisonous, and that certain kinds are poisonous more or less at 
Tetraodon meleagris (Lacépéde). Riu Kiu Islands. 
Fig. 39. 
all times. The following account is condensed from Dr. Pelle- 
grin’s observations. 
The flesh of fishes soon undergoes decomposition in hot 
climates. The consumption of decayed fish may produce 
serious disorders, usually with symptoms of diarrhcea or erup- 
tion of the skin. There is in this case no specific poison, but 
the formation of leucomaines through the influence of bacteria. 
This may take place with other kinds of flesh, and is known as 
botolism, or allantiasis. For this disease, as produced by the 
flesh of fishes, Dr. Pellegrin suggests the name of ichthyosism. 
It is especially severe in certain very oily fishes, as the tunny, 
the anchovy, or the salmon. The flesh of these and other fishes 
occasionally produces similar disorders through mere indiges- 
tion. In this case the flesh undergoes decay in the stomach. 
