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PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XIV, October I960 
sterols ( Bergmann et al., 1956); and for the 
sea anemone Metridium senile it was suggested 
that a mucoprotein participates in the poison of 
its nematocysts (Phillips, 1956). Substances 
of these classes probably occur in R. hoivesii, 
but it cannot be said whether they contribute to 
its toxicity. Since R. howesii loses its toxicity 
when heated, but not when dialyzed, it is sug- 
gested that proteins may play an important role 
in the composition of its poison. 
From the clinical symptoms observed in our 
patients we could not determine whether the 
poison had a curare-like action or affected pri- 
marily the central nervous system. The symp- 
toms of poisoning in B. marinus could not be 
interpreted, since we had no basis of comparing 
them with the effects of pure drugs on the 
toad. 
The present preliminary study was terminated 
when we had established that refrigeration was 
suitable to preserve the poison of R. howesii 
during shipment. 
CONCLUSIONS 
1. R. howesii contains a paralytic poison 
which differs from other known "marine poi- 
sons” of this category. The duration of the phase 
of stupor observed in three cases of poisoning 
in humans was comparatively very long. The 
human skin is not affected by contact with R. 
howesii. 
2. The poison does not dialyze at pH 6 and 
is inactivated within 15 minutes in the boiling 
water bath. There is no detectable loss in toxic- 
ity when the raw sea anemone is kept at 3° C. 
for 2 weeks. 
3. The poison content of R. hoivesii does not 
depend on the color of the sea anemones and 
shows no seasonal variations. The toad B. 
marinus L. is suitable for bio-assaying R. howe- 
sii. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
The author is indebted to Mr. C. E. Cutress, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., for 
identifying the sea anemone from specimens in 
formalin and for his valuable comments; and 
to Drs. K. F. Meyer and L. Farber, the George 
Williams Hooper Foundation, University of 
California Medical Center, San Francisco, for 
their encouragement and for testing a batch 
of R. hoivesii in their laboratory. 
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