222 PKOCEEDINGS OP THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION, 
©us, and that if it be not removed,' it causes death to those 
who are so imprudent as to eat of the animal thus pre- 
pared. Their sensibility becomes blunted, the tongue im- 
moveable, the limbs grow stiff, and life is extinguished, 
while a cold and a colliquative sweat inundates the entire 
body. The wound indicted by the prickles or spines is 
considered dangerous. Serious accidents are experienced, 
if care be not taken to withdraw from the viscera of these 
animals, when they are prepared for the table, the remains 
of the aliments which they may be found to contain.”— 
(Supplem. Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom, Griffiths’ edition). 
We have to consider the Conger eels among the Mala- 
copterygians. The flesh of the conger eel is a common ar- 
ticle of the market, both fresh and salted, in Mediterranean 
ports. 
Cuvier has withdrawn the Murena Conger from the genus 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 France, 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..” u The flesh of this 
fish is white and well flavoured ; 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 
