THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 57 



in the settlement, especially among children, who, almost 

 immediately after partaking of the flesh, were seized with 

 .giddiness and stupor, followed by death. 



The siluroids Plotosus anguillaris and P. albilabris 

 occur in the seas of the Malay Peninsula. At Penang, 

 the latter species is less numerous than the former ; both 

 are eaten by the poorer class of natives. The wounds 

 from both are equally dreaded. The siluroids or sheat 

 fishes are generally well armed. They have mostly strong 

 dorsal and pectoral spines, often serrated, with which 

 they can inflict dangerous lacerated wounds. The siluroid 

 Thalassophryne has a distinct poison gland. In the marine 

 and estuary species the spinal armature is invariably pre- 

 sent, and the serrated spines on the tails of the skates 

 cause lacerated wounds ; while the Synanceia verrucosa 

 has a tube at each of its dorsal spines, and a poison 

 gland at its base. The wounds are very venomous. It 

 is, however, rare along the coasts of India. 



The spine in the tail of the Trygon uarnak inflicts a 

 lacerated wound, and Dr. Day had to amputate the arm 

 of a person wounded by this fish. He thinks that there 

 may be some noxious secretion likewise occasioning 

 irritation, as seen from the scorpion fish Saccobranchus 

 fossilis and the Clarias magur. Indian natives believe 

 that the Saccobranchus fossilis and Clarias give poisonous 

 wounds, but no glands have as yet been detected in them. 

 Yet should a native be wounded in the hand, most acute 

 inflammation at once sets in. In one instance the arm 

 up to the shoulder, in a few hours, enlarged to double its 

 normal size, accompanied by intense agony. 



Punctured wounds, in which no direct poison has been 

 traced, are especially dreaded from species of Pterois and 

 their allies. The spines about the head of Platycephalus, 



