Weever-venom dissolves the red corpuscles of the horse in the presence of normal heated horse-serum, but does not dissolve them in the presence of fresh serum. The non-heated serum, therefore, as I have shown with reference to the action of cobra-venom on the blood, contains a natural antihæmolysin.
Briot succeeded in vaccinating rabbits by accustoming them to the venom, and in obtaining from them a serum capable of neutralising the latter in vitro, and of immunising fresh rabbits against doses several times lethal, even when injected intravenously.
According to Gressin, the following phenomena are produced in man as the result of Weever-stings:—
“At first there is felt an excruciating, shooting, paralysing pain, which, in the case of nervous persons, may cause attacks of leipothymia ending in syncope. A kind of painful formication next pervades the injured limb, which becomes swollen and inflamed, and may even, if treatment be neglected, form the starting point of a gangrenous phlegmon.
“This condition is frequently accompanied by certain general phenomena—such as fever, delirium, and bilious vomiting, the duration of which is variable, since they may only last for two or three hours, or may continue for several days. Fishermen rightly consider this variability to depend upon the amount of venom that has penetrated into the wound, and especially upon the season at which the accident takes place. The most serious results are recorded during the spawning season, and fishermen regard the Lesser Weever as being the more poisonous.”
3.—Gobiidæ.
In the fishes belonging to this family the body is elongated and depressed, while the spines in the anterior dorsal fin and in the ventral fins are slender, flexible, and seldom very solid. The ventral fins are inserted on the breast or on the throat, and are either separated or united together in the shape of a funnel. The skin is naked or covered with large scales, and the mouth is furnished with teeth. The males are distinguished by the presence of a long genital papilla. These fishes are carnivorous.
Fig. 109.—Callionymus lyra (Dragonet or Skulpin. Family Gobiidæ).
Several species of venomous Gobiidæ are met with on the shores of France and in the tropical zone. The most important of these belong to the genus Callionymus (C. belennus, C. lacertus, C. vulsus, and C. lyra—[fig. 109]).