TRANSFORMATIONS. 15^ 



ever, whether this secretion is equally poisonous 

 in all the species provided with that axillary sac, 

 or whether it has poisonous qualities at all, is a 

 question which can be decided by experiments 

 only made with the living fishes." 



With some fishes, by the way, it would seem 

 the flesh is more or less permeated with poison, 

 either at certain seasons or at all times of the 

 year. "When eaten," says Dr Gunther, '^it 

 causes symptoms of more or less intense irritation 

 of the stomach and intestines, inflammation of 

 the mucous membranes, and not rarely death. 

 The fishes, the flesh of which appears always to 

 have poisonous properties, are Clupea thrissa, 

 Clupea venenosa (West Indian herrings), and some 

 species of Scarus (parrot-wrasses), Tetrodon and 

 Diodon (globe-fishes). There are many others 

 which have occasionally or frequently caused 

 symptoms of poisoning. Poey enumerates not 

 less than seventy-two different kinds from Cuba ; 

 and various species of Sphyrmna (barracuda), 

 Batistes (file-fish), Ostracion (coffer-fish), Caranax 

 (horse-mackerel) . . . have been found to be 

 poisonous in all seas between the tropics. All 

 or nearly all these fishes acquire their poisonous 

 properties from their food, which consists of 

 poisonous medusae, corals, or decomposing sub- 

 stances. Frequently the fishes are found to be 

 eatable if the head and intestines be removed 

 immediately after their capture. In the West 

 Indies it has been ascertained that all the fishes 

 living and feeding on certain coral banks are 

 poisonous. In other fishes the poisonous pro- 

 perties are developed at certain seasons of the 



