VENOMOUS FISHES 117 



him an Aularches miliaris, and the mere sight of 

 the insect was enough to make him try to shuffle off : 

 but if I insisted on his facing it, he would knock it 

 out of my hand with a hearty cuff, and if I had forced 

 it into his mouth I have no doubt he would have 

 bitten me. I suspect that the cat-fish Plotosiis arab 

 is avoided by other fishes who have reached years of 

 discretion much as Aularches miliaris was avoided 

 by my young bear. 



I made numerous sections of young decalcified 

 specimens of Plotosus arab, but in no case could I 

 find any trace of a special poison gland connected with 

 any of its spines, so that the venom must be con- 

 tained in the ordinary slime of its skin. Of the 

 numerous other species of fishes that can inflict 

 poisonous wounds with their spines, some, as Dr 

 Gunther has shown, are provided with special poison 

 glands for this purpose, while in others, such as the 

 dangerous tribe of sting-rays, the ordinary secretion 

 of the skin appears to be sufficiently virulent. I regret 

 to say that I did not, as I should have done, examine 

 the fresh mucus to see if it contained any large 

 amount of soluble albumin : I recommend this inquiry 

 to any naturalist who may meet Plotosus arab in its 

 native element. 



I have already referred to the voluntary and 

 apparently purposive sounds emitted by Alpheus, by 

 certain locust-shrimps and rock-lobsters, and by the 



