154: M. A. Duméril on Venomous Fishes. 
accident is mainly due to idiosyncrasy or some peculiar condition 
of the stomach, by which certain aliments, generally easy of 
digestion, become a sort of poison. 
Ill. 
The supposition has been put forward that the noxious pro- 
perties of various fishes are dependent on circumstances con- 
nected with their aliment. 
Thus Munier, in a letter to Sonnerat (Journal de Physique, 
1774, t. ui. p. 129), says that in Bourbon and Mauritius, be- 
tween December and March, or even April, none of the Scara 
which he calls “ Vieille” and “ Perroquet ” (the precise deter- 
mination of which, as Valenciennes has remarked*, is uncertain) 
are eaten. They are then regarded with mistrust, because, 
during the season when the coral is growing, they eat great 
quantities of the animal which constructs it. | 
According to Munier, the causticity of the juices of their 
prey is the only cause of their baneful properties. 
Commerson, in his manuscripts, says, speaking of the ‘‘Catau- 
bleue” (Scarus capitaneus, Cuv. et Val. t. xiv. p. 230), that this 
species, like its congeners, gnaws the coral, and is consequently 
looked upon with suspicion in both the Ile-de-France and 
Bourbon. Sees naa 
M. Dussumier, in the MS. catalogues accompanying the fishes 
brought by him from the Indian seas (Val. Hist. Poiss. t. xiv. 
p- 252), has noted that the inhabitants of Bombay regard with 
mistrust another Scarus (Sc. harid), its flesh being reputed 
dangerous when it has fed upon corals. ; 
Certain Annelides of the northern seas, hitherto ill-deter- 
mined, are sometimes so abundant as to give a red tint to the 
water. They are eaten by the herrings, and are thought to be 
capable of communicating hurtful properties to their flesh (Cuv. 
et Val. Hist. Poiss. t. xx. p. 71). . 
In Duhamel’s ‘ Traité des Péches’ (2¢ partie, sect, ui. p. 549) 
are some remarks by Barbotteau relative to the sardine of the 
Antilles (Harengula humeralis, Cuv. et Val.). This fish is said 
to have a baneful effect, occasioning fevers, and often even death, 
when it has been taken in the vicinity of copper or has fed on 
the zoophytes named “ Men-of-war” (Physalia). It is worthy of 
notice that Lherminier, who resided for a long time in Guade- 
loupe, observed it to be venomous in all seasons, and, indeed, to 
such an extent as to cause death in a few minutes. 
The fish named Courpata at Nice, and which Risso has made 
the type of the genus Tetragonura, cannot be eaten. That 
* Cuv. et Val. Hist. d. Poiss. t. xiv. pp. 237 & 238. 
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