108 



Dr. J. Beard. 



[May 16, 



and blood ; the general symptoms being, first, a great fall of the body 

 temperature, and a condition of stupor, ending in death. 



3. The activity of both these proteids is destroyed by moist heat. 

 In solution the activity of the globulin is destroyed at between 

 75° and 80° C, and that of the albumose between 80° and 85° C. 



4. That abrus-poison resembles snake-venom in chemical composi- 

 tion, in the local lesions produced, in producing a fall of body tem- 

 perature, in causing semi-fluidity or fluidity of the blood after death, 

 and, to some extent, in the effect of moist heat on it. Abrus-poison 

 is, however, much less active than snake-venom. 



The following table shows a comparison between the activity of the 

 venom of various snakes and of Abrus : — 



Vipera berus (common adder) . . Fatal dose in man 0'0021 gram per kilo, of body 



weight (Fontana).* 



HoplocepTialus curtus (Austra-.. Fatal dose in dog, 0*00485 gram per kilo, of body 



lian tiger snake)f weight j i a grain in medium size dog (15 lbs.). 



Cobra Fatal dose in dog, O'O00O79 gram per kilo, of body 



weight ; grain in dog weighing 18 lbs. (Yin- 

 cent Richards). X 



Abrus-poison : 



G-lobulin. . Fatal dose, 0"01 gram per kilo, of body weight. 



Albumose Fatal dose, 0*06 gram per kilo, of body weight. 



Peptic albumoses Fatal dose in dog, any dose over 03 gram per kilo. 



of body weight (Pollitzer).§ 



IY. " On the Early Development of Lepidosteus osseus. — Pre- 

 liminary Notice." By J. Beard, Ph.D., B.Sc., Zoologist to 

 the Scottish Fishery Board, Edinburgh. Communicated by 

 Professor T. H. Huxley, F.R.S. Received April 20, 1889. " 



In the spring of 1888 I journeyed to North America for the purpose 

 of collecting material for a study of Ganoid development. 



I sought and found even more material than I wanted in the now 

 well-known habitat of Lepidosteus, Black Lake, N.T. No better 

 hunting-ground could be wished for by the morphologist in search of 

 Ganoid material. The lake contains Amia, multitudes of Lepidosteus, 

 and (it is said) sturgeons. One need not be at much trouble in 

 seeking sturgeons, for the River St. Lawrence, which flows within 

 12 miles of Black Lake, will vie with any Russian river. I made the 



* Quoted in Marx, ' Gift-Lehre,' vol. 2, p. 74. 



f " Report of Special Commission on Snake-poisoning." ' Australian Med. 

 Journal,' 1876, No. 21, p. 104. 



X ' Landmarks of Snake-poison Literature.' 

 § ' Journal of Physiology,' 1886. 



