284 ON POISONOUS FISHfiS AND FISH-POISONS. 



prepared for the table, the remains of the aliments which they may be 

 found to contain." (Supplem. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom : Malacopterygii — 

 Griffiths' edition) 



We have to consider the Conger eels among the Malacopterygians. 

 The flesh of the conger eel is a common article of the market, both fresh 

 and salted, in Mediterranean ports. 



Cuvier has withdrawn the Murceaa Conger from the genus Anguilla, and 

 made it the foundation of a subgenus under the name of Conger. " It 

 is found in the seas of Europe, of Northern Asia, and in those of America, 

 as far as the Antilles. It is very abundant on the coasts of England and 

 Fiance, in the Mediterranean Sea (where it was much sought after by the 

 ancients), and in the Propontis, where it was not long ago in considerable 

 estimation. Those of Sicyon were more especially esteemed." " The flesh 

 of this fish is white and well flavoured ; but, as it is very fat, it does not 

 agree with all stomachs." " In many places the conger eels are dried for 

 exportation. For this purpose, they are cut open in their under part through 

 their entire length ; the intestines are removed ; deep scarifications are 

 made upon the back ; the parts are kept separate by means of small sticks, 

 and they are suspended by the tail to poles or the branches of trees. When 

 they are perfectly dry, they are collected in packets, each weighing about 

 two hundred pounds." " Redi has found, in several congers which he has dis- 

 sected, some species of hydatids, nine or ten inches in length, situated on 

 the coats of the stomach, the liver, the muscles, the ovaries, and other parts." 

 " The Mimense proper were carefully reared in vivaria by the Romans. As 

 early as the time of Caesar, the multiplication of these domestic MuramEe 

 was so great, that on the occasion of one of his triumphs, that great general 

 presented six thousand of them to his friends. Licinius Crassus reared 

 them so as to be obedient to his voice, and to come and receive their food 

 from his hands ; while the celebrated orator Quintus Hortensius wept over 

 the loss of those of which death had deprived him." In all cases the bite 

 of these fishes is severe, and often dangerous. 



Such is the testimony to the quality and estimation of the conger eel 

 which Griffiths has collected in his Supplement to Malacopterygii apodes, in 

 Cuvier's 'Animal Kingdom.' We see that its flesh does not agree with all 

 stomachs ; but what renders it so frequently deadly ? The late Dr William 

 Gordon, than whom there was not a moTe careful or more erudite investi- 

 gator into physiological and pathological facts, assured me that in a case 

 which had terminated in death, after long lingering, from eating the conger 

 of our coasts, not the common Murcena, but the Gyrnnothorax in all proba- 

 bility, the injury suffered had resulted from eating the liver ; the rest of 

 the fish had no part in the deleterious consequences that ensued. The case 

 he referred me to was that of a man poisoned at Unity Hall, from the fish 

 he had taken at the mouth of Great River. We shall find, in the course of 

 our ensuing remarks, that the liver in most cases has a great deal to do with 

 danger attending fish-poisons. 



(To be continued.) 



