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Show 1888.] POISON-ORGANS OF TRACHINUS. 365 giving rise to permanent stiffening of the part. In other cases, instead of a slough of this kind being produced, intense inflammation of the finger, hand, and even forearm may follow, the lymphatic vessels becoming inflamed up to the arm-pit, the glands of which become enlarged and painful. Purulent matter is also often formed amongst the tissues, and the effects of the poison will sometimes be felt for from three to five months in severe cases. Day (9) states that the swelling usually subsides in about 12 hours, but mentions one case in which a sailor was incapacitated from work for many weeks, and refers to Schmidt (17) as giving further details concerning the effects of the virus. Mention is also made of the physiological aspect of the question in the paragraph already referred to by Wiedersheim (20), where it is stated that " Die Wirkung des Giftes, selbst auf grbssere Thiere, ist eine starke. Es afficirt das centrale Nervensystem und das Herz (Convulsionen, Starrkrampf, Paralyse)." Additional evidence as to the effects produced by the sting of the Weever is given in many of the works already quoted, but much of this, like the accounts one hears from fishermen themselves, is not sufficiently authenticated to be of much value. Dr. Day states (9) that " surgeons have found that olive-oil, to which a little opium has been added, is most efficacious as a cure." T. vipera is said to be much more venomous than T. draco ; hut this can probably be explained by the fact that the former has had more attention directed to it, owing to its habit of burying itself in the sand, when it is liable to be trodden upon by bathers ; whereas in the case of the Greater Weever the cases of poisoning are mostly confined to fishermen who have incautiously handled the fish when it has been brought up in the trawl. LIST OF W O R K S REFERRED TO. 1. ALLMAN, G. J. On the Stinging-properties of the Lesser Weever (Trachinus vipera).. Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. vi. 1841, p. 161. 2. B L E E K E R . Atlas Ichthyol. ii. Silur. 3. B Y E R L E Y . Proc. Literary and Philosoph. Soc. of Liverpool, No. 5, 1849, p. 156. 4. C A N E S T R I N I . Compendio di Zool. ed Anat. Comp. i. 1869, p. 307. 5. C O U C H . British Fishes. Vol. ii. London, 1877, p. 45. 6. C U V I E R . Hist. Nat. des Poissons, t. iii. p. 184. 7. C U V I E R . Regne Animal. Paris, 1877. 8. C U V I E R . Animal Kingdom (transl. by Carpenter and West-wood, London, 1854). 9. D A Y , F. The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland. London, 1880-1884, vol. i. pp. 78-82. 10. J A R D I N E , S I R W M . Naturalist's Library. Vol. xxxvi. British Fishes, part i. p. 137. |
