DR. EVANS ON THE POISONED SPINES OF THE WEEYER FISH. 357 
Then a sort of painful tingling attacks the wounded part 
which swells up and becomes inflamed, and perchance if one 
neglects to attend to it this goes on to phlegmonous inflam- 
mation and gangrene. Frequently certain general symptoms 
as fever, delirium and bilious vomiting accompany this state. 
They may last two or three hours or make themselves felt 
for several days. The fishermen attribute, with some reason, 
this irregularity in the effects according to the amount of 
poison inserted or the time of year, the spawning season 
being most dangerous. 
My investigations into the poison organ of Tracliinus draco 
were the result of observing the pain and suffering among all 
associated with the fish trade, both fishermen and packers. 
I must express my indebtedness in the first place to Mr. 
Borley of the Marine Biological Association at Lowestoft, 
who has examined with me the anatomy, both naked eye 
and microscopic, of the Weever, and has also helped me in 
getting together the literature of the subject, and in the 
second place to Professor Sidney Martin, in whose laboratory 
the experiments into the physiological properties of the 
venom took place. I must further thank Dr. Stevenson for 
the great interest he has taken in the subject, and for per- 
forming the various inoculation experiments. 
The most recent work on the subject of the venom of 
Trackinus draco is to be found in several communications by 
M. A. Briot in the Comptes Rendus do la Societe de Biologie 
de Paris (1902-4). The experiments of my own, several 
years later, were made in complete ignorance of this work, 
and therefore have the value of being free from any bias. 
This literature was not referred to in so recent a work as the 
Cambridge Natural History of 1905. 
The methods adopted by Briot in the matter of collecting 
sufficient poison for investigation differed to some extent 
from those of Phisalix. The latter macerated the gland 
in chloroform water and glycerine, and the fluid resulting 
from this maceration was used in his experiments. Briot 
took the venomous spines and adjacent tissues, and pounded 
them in a mortar and made a glycerine extract. He used 
