ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
81 
RARE VISITORS AT THE AQUARIUM 
Smooth Puffer (above). Bone-fish (below). Permit (right, left and center). Orange-striped Grunt 
(lower background). 
Photograph by Elwin R. Sanborn. 
The smooth puffer is dark above, the sides 
and lower surface being silvery. It is smooth 
and scaleless on back and sides, the belly being 
covered with spines which usually lie flat and 
are not visible in the swimming fish. Like other 
species of puffers' it has the habit of inflating 
the abdomen when alarmed. 
It is sometimes called rabbit-fish from the 
shape of the head and this is the meaning of 
the name Lagocephalus. 
The very.young of the smooth puffer seem to 
be unknown although specimens two and one- 
half inches long have been taken in Porto Rico. 
_C. H. T. 
GELATIN AND JJELLY FISHES 
YOUNG man asked the Aquarium whether 
there was gelatin in jelly fishes and if so 
how it could be extracted. He wished to 
know also what was the nature of the composi¬ 
tion in a jelly fish’s tenacles which caused it to 
be so poisonous to human flesh. 
We were very well able to tell him that al¬ 
though jelly fishes are sufficiently solid to have 
been preserved in fossil remains, they are 
nevertheless mostly composed of water and after 
the sun has dried them out nothing remains but 
‘a thin film. We had not heard of anyone at¬ 
tempting to make gelatin, out of the so-called 
“gelatinous substance” of the jelly fish, but, 
learning from the Century Cyclopedia that 
“Gelatin does not exist as such in the animal 
tissues, but is formed by the action of boiling 
water on connective tissues, cartilage, ligaments 
and tendons as well as on skin, horn, fish-scales, 
etc.,” the writer boiled down a jelly fish brought 
in dead by the Aquarium collecting boat. After 
half an hour the receptacle .contained a liquid 
that smelled like clam broth, and not even a film 
remained to represent the defunct coelenterate. 
The liquor, after standing two days, failed to 
“jell.” 
When these inquiries were received Dr. A. G. 
Mayor, the great authority on medusae, was 
living and we asked him concerning the nature 
of the poison in a jelly fish’s tentacles. He 
replied that although there is some formic acid 
in the poison, “the stinging is too severe to be 
due wholly to this. Mechanical puncture of the 
tissues also would not account for the severity 
of the sting; hence there is probably an addi¬ 
tional unknown poison.” 
This may be taken to be the last word on 
the subject. I. M. M. 
