M. A. Duméril on Venomous Fishes. 163 
5. A fish of the same family, of which, however, the lower jaw 
differs from the same in Tetraodon by presenting only a single 
dentary piece (the Diodon orbiculare), produces death, as at- 
tested by M. Moreau de Jonnés at Martinique, either imme- 
diately or after two months of suffering. 
6&7. As formidable in the order Plectognathi, we may cite 
many Balistes, and in particular that called ‘ Vieille’ (B, vetuda, 
Bl.), and the ‘ Coffre cornu’ (Ostracion cornutus). 
8,9, 10,11,&12. After the Becuna (Sphyrena becuna, Lacép., 
Cuv. & Val. t. i. p. 340) and the great Sphyrena (S. barracuda, 
Cuy. & Val. t. ii. p. 343), I would also indicate the false Caranz 
(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 Lachnolemus 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, m 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 
