M. A. Dumeril on Venomous Fishes. 163 



5. A fish of the same family, of which, however, the lower jaw 

 differs from the same in Tetraodun by presenting only a single 

 dentary piece (the Diodon oj-biculare) , produces death, as at- 

 tested by M. Moreau de Jonnes at Martinique, either imme- 

 diately or after two months of suffering. 



6 k7. As formidable in the order Plectognathi, we may cite 

 ma.ny Balistes, and in particular that called ' Vieille^ {B, vetula, 

 Bl.), and the 'Coffre cornu' {Ostracion cornutus). 



8, 9, 10, 1 1, & 12. After the Becuna {Sphyrcena becuna, Lacep., 

 Cuv. & Val. t. iii. p. 340) and the great Sphyr-cena {S. barracuda, 

 Cuv. & Val. t. iii. p. 313), I would also indicate the false Caranx 

 {C.fallax, Cuv. & Val. t, ix. p. 95), the Scarus called *Catau- 

 bleue' in Mauritius {Sc. capitaneus, Cuv. & Val. t. xiv. p. 228, 

 pl.403), and the Lachnolcemus caninus (Cuv. & Val. t. xiii. p. 288). 



It is to one or other of these species that the accidents men- 

 tioned in a journal of Nov. 23, 1855, must be attributed : — 



An American whaler, starting from Boston, in March 1854, 

 for the Pacific, stopped to take in water at the islands of Juan 

 Fernandez, situated at about 700 kilometres from Chili, to which 

 they belong. During some hours of leisure the men took to 

 fishing ; and at night, when the anchor was raised, more than 

 200 kilogrammes of fish had been taken. Among many species, 

 those commonly called by the sailors ' Carangue,' ' Capitaine/ 

 and ' Vieille ' &c. were remarked. The greater number were 

 cooked for the men^s supper, the officers distributing also a 

 ration of arrack. 



But a few hours elapsed after this repast before forty-two of 

 the men out of the fifty-seven who formed the company of the 

 ship were seized with dizziness, pains in the belly, nausea, and 

 repeated vomitings. The pains in the intestines became inter- 

 mittent, and were followed by prostration and a state of coma, 

 which, after eleven hours of atrocious suffering, terminated in 

 the death of thirty-four of the sailors, in spite of every attention 

 and solicitude. The recovery of the remaining eight was very 

 slow, and accompanied by pains and burnings in the limbs, 

 pealing off of the skin, paralysis of part of the body (and, in 

 the case of some, of all the members) for a longer or shorter 

 time — eight days and a half with some, five days with the rest. 

 The differences were evidently due to the quality of the various 

 kinds of food which had been taken, and to the constitution of 

 the individuals. 



Of the fifteen who continued healthy, four suffered only from 

 severe colics accompanied by pains in the stomach and followed 

 by a dysentery which lasted not longer than two or three days. 



The evening repast of the captain, mate, surgeon, and other 



