M. A. Dumeril on Venomous Fishes. 155 



naturalist experienced the extent of its unwholesomeness by 

 many very serious accidents. He says (Ichth. de Nice, p. 350) 

 that its pernicious qualities arise from its feeding on a species 

 of Medusa common in the Mediterranean, and belonging to 

 the genus Stephanomia, which possesses acrid and irritating 

 properties to an extreme degree. Valenciennes remarks with 

 reason upon the stx-angeness of the fact that the internal mem- 

 brane of the digestive tube of the fish may be brought into 

 contact with so caustic a substance (the pernicious qualities of 

 which are by no means destroyed by such contact, since they 

 are capable of being communicated afterwards) without any ill 

 effect upon the organs of the animal itself. 



In many cases, then, such poisoning may be attributed to the 

 kind of food which the fish partakes of : we cannot, however, 

 consider this to be the sole cause. There are, in fact, venomous 

 species where no polypes are to be found; and, on the other 

 hand, some which are caught in islands like Marie-Galante, 

 surrounded by these aggregated zoophytes, are not more dan- 

 gerous than those from other quarters. Further, if such fishes 

 do indeed, as is reported, retain the odour of the coral, it is not 

 always because they have eaten of it, but merely from their 

 having existed in its vicinity. 



I must not here omit to mention the experiments made by 

 Moreau de Jonnes with a view to obtaining light upon this 

 subject. He placed in a basin occupied by species of fish which 

 are considered capable of becoming venomous some Aplysice, 

 sea-stars, medusse, and portions of polypes ; he found that this 

 food was exceedingly repulsive to them, and that, after a long- 

 time, although having no other sort of nourishment, they had 

 left them altogether intact. M. Moreau de Jonnes then forced 

 them to eat a considerable quantity of the acrid substance of 

 these animals, mixing and disguising it in farinaceous paste ; 

 and, thus involuntarily nourished upon that which they had 

 previously rejected, they caused no sort of ill effect when eaten 

 at table*. 



Amongst the substances from feeding upon which fishes are 

 supposed to derive their baneful properties, are the fruits of the 

 Manchineel {Hippomane mancinella, Linn.), which are held in 

 great dread in the Antilles ; however, as M. Moreau de Jonnes 



* Are the poisonous qualities of certain fishes of the Antilles attributable 

 to their preying upon the abundant and much-dreaded Meletta thrissa,Yi\\.? 

 Ferguson ("On the Poisonous Fishes of the Caribbee Islands," in Trans. 

 Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, 1821, t. ix. p. 76) supports this notion. He says that, 

 in localities where this Meletta abounds, accidents are more frequent ; 

 while thoy are almost unknown in those portions of tlie Antilles wiiere it 

 is rare. 



11* 



