SCIENTIFIC NEVS^S. 



[May 25, 18 



agony. Such a case is recorded by a recent traveller, 

 the victim being a young girl who, incautiously groping 

 in a fissure in the coral, laid her hand upon a concealed 

 No'u, and received the prick of its deadly spines. 

 Although all possible remedies were applied, and every 

 attention paid, nothing could be done even to relieve the 

 pain, and in less than thirty-six hours the poison com- 

 pleted its fatal work. 



Sometimes the wounds received are due to pure careless- 

 ness upon the part of others. The No'u, for all its veno- 

 mous properties, is capital eating when stripped of its skin 

 andspines, and formsa very favouritedish with the natives 

 of those coasts upon which it is found. But, with the 

 thoughtlessness so characteristic of savages in general, 

 its captors usually content themselves with flinging the 

 skin, spines and all, into the bush. Now these spines 

 retain all their poisonous qualities for long after death, 

 and the consequence is that any bare-footed passer-by 

 who may happen to tread upon them receives a serious, 

 if not a fatal wound. Yet experience never seems to 

 bring wisdom in its train, and even the wounded man 

 himself, should he chance to recover, will probably re- 

 peat the folly in question at the first opportunity. 



In the sting-ray and the weever, as we have already 

 seen, the poisonous properties of the spines cannot be 

 traced to any definite source. No venom glands can be 

 detected ; no actual virus can be found. But in the 

 No'u the case is altogether different, and at the base of 

 every spine a poison-gland is found, so formed and 

 situated that the slightest pressure upon the weapon in 

 question causes a small quantity of the contents to be 

 discharged through its perforation. And this, or a 

 similar structure, we find in all poison-bearing weapons, 

 whether of reptile, fish, insect, myriapod, or hydrozoon. 

 The actual injection of the virus is in all cases 

 involuntary and mechanical, although the infliction of the 

 wound is not. And it is not uninteresting to speculate 

 upon the origin of the instinct which points out the use 

 of the weapon, while its possessor must yet be perfectly 

 ignorant of the manner in which it will take effect. 



In appearance the No'u is very far from attractive, the 

 head and mouth being quite out of all proportion to the 

 rest of the body, while the skin is so loose and wrinkled 

 that, as has been well remarked, it strongly reminds the 

 observer of elephantiasis in its very worst form. In 

 colour it is dark brown, mottled with yellow and red. 

 Hence, while lying, after its manner, perfectly motionless 

 upon the coral, it can scarcely be detected, even by the 

 most experienced eye. Its tints harmonise so well with 

 those of its surroundings, that the prick of its formidable 

 spines is usually the first intimation of its presence ; and 

 its resemblance to inanimate objects is even heightened 

 by the fact that the head and back are generally more or 

 less covered with sea-weed. If a coral bed be not 

 forthcoming, the fish lies motionless upon the mud at the 

 bottom, in which it will even bury itself so completely 

 that only the eyes and the tips of the spines project above 

 the surface. To detect it, consequently, save by the 

 sense of touch, is absolutely impossible, and to wade in 

 the waters which it inhabits is a really dangerous under- 

 taking. 



When captured, as it frequently is, both by net and 

 by line, the No'u is grasped by the lower jaw, which is 

 quite destitute of spines, and may be handled with 

 impunity. It is quite a small fish, seldom or never 

 exceeding fifteen or sixteen inches in length, of which a 

 very large proportion is occupied by the head. In Tahiti 



an aspirate is introduced into its name, and it is generally 

 known as the " Nohu." 



Among the many fish whose flesh is poisonous when 

 eaten, are several ot the Tetrodons, of which we have 

 only one British representative, but which are spread 

 over a considerable portion of the world. One in parti- 

 cular, found in Japanese seas, is so exceedingly deleterious 

 that it is commonly eaten as a mode of suicide, producing 

 symptoms very similar to those resulting from an over- 

 dose of morphia, and finally causing death. Sj greatly 

 is the flesh of this fish in demand, indeed, by those who 

 wish to put an end to their existence, that a law exists in 

 Japan forbidding the admission to the army of the son of 

 any soldier who has thus destroyed himself. Yet one or 

 two allied species are perfectly wholesome, and, by the 

 Andaman islanders, others are prescribed for medicinal 

 purposes. 



These last, of course, strictly speaking, do not come 

 into the category of "venomous " fishes at all, and they 

 have merely been mentioned in order to draw attention 

 to the fact that actual venom-bearing creatures are 

 generally quite harmless — as is also their venom — when 

 taken internally, while those which produce symptoms 

 of poisoning when taken as food are destitute of venom- 

 bearing weapons. Thus the flesh and the virus of the 

 viper, the rattlesnake, or the cobra may be swallowed 

 with perfect impunity ; so, too, may the flesh of the 

 weever or the sting-ray. On the other hand, those fish 

 whose flesh is actually unwholesome, such as the Tetro- 

 dons already mentioned, and various Sparoids and Clupea, 

 have no poison-weapons at all. 



The word " poison," of course, is merely a relative term, 

 as is stated in other language by a certain well-known 

 proverb. That of the viper, for example, produces no 

 effect upon the hedgehog, while rabbits will eat 

 belladonna with evident enjoyment, and without any ill 

 results. And the whole subject is one wrapped in the 

 deepest and most profound mystery. What is there in a 

 fluid, elaborated by a tiny gland from perfectly harmless 

 materials, which shall cause the heart to cease to beat if 

 one small drop be mingled with the blood ? Why has it 

 no effect upon its owner, if itself be inoculated with it ? 



Who can answer questions such as these ? The matter 

 is one to fully understand which we must be acquainted 

 with the nature of life itself. 



In the case of the fish which possess this singular and 

 mysterious medium, assuredly the most remarkable fact 

 is that in those which use their weapons the most, and 

 for offensive purposes, the actual venom employed can- 

 not be detected at all, while in others which rely 

 upon them almost solely as a means of defence, the 

 secretive glands are both large and distinct. Perhaps 

 some future investigator may be able to account for this 

 anomaly ; so far it has received no explanation. And 

 possibly the discovery, if ever it be made, will throw 

 some little light upon the nature and operation of the 

 poison itself, a subject which has so far completely baffled 

 all the researches of the physiologist. 



Mother-of-Pearl in the Red Sea. — These fisheries, 

 according to the Popular Science Monthly, extend the 

 whole length of the Red Sea, and employ about 300 

 boats, each having a crew of from five to twelve men. 

 There are two fishing seasons, one of four and one of 

 nearly eight months. The work is conducted only in 

 calm weather, when the shells can be seen at depths of 



