294 



VENOMS 



and Tropical Pacific, is red and brown, obliquely striped with 

 white and brown ; a third species', Scorpcena porcus {Scorphie 

 truie), of smaller size, is met with in the Mediterranean. 

 The venom of the latter has been studied by A. Briot,' who 

 sectioned the dorsal and opercular spines, and macerated them 

 either in physiological saline solution, or in glycerine ; he then 

 tested the toxicity of these macerations on certain animals — 

 frogs, rabbits, and rats. 



Pig. 10,4. — Scorpana diabolus (Indian and Pacific Oceana). (After Savtschenko.) 



The frogs alone exhibited, as the result of subcutaneous injec- 

 tion into a limb, slight transient paralysis. No effect was found 

 to be produced by the venom when injected intravenously into 

 the rabbit, or subcutaneously into the rat. 



The poison-apparatus of Scorpaiia is situated in the spiny rays 

 of the dorsal and anal fins. These rays are enveloped in the inter- 

 radial membrane, which forms a sheath for them, and are scored 

 with a double cannelure. At the bottom of these grooves are the 



Comptcs rciidiis ile la Socicfi: de Bioloijic, 1904, p. 666. 



