Such alkaloids are present in the globefishes (_Tetraodontidæ_), the filefishes (_Monacanthus_), and in some related forms, while members of other groups (_Batrachoididæ_) are under suspicion in this regard. The alkaloids produce a disease known as ciguatera, characterized by paralysis and gastric derangements. Severe cases of ciguatera with men, as well as with lower animals, may end fatally in a short time. The flesh of the filefishes (_Stephanolepis tomentosus_), which the writer has tested, is very meager and bitter, having a decidedly offensive taste. It is suspected, probably justly, of being poisonous. In the globefishes the flesh is always more or less poisonous, that of _Tetraodon hispidus_, called muki-muki, or death-fish, in Hawaii, is reputed as excessively so. The poisonous fishes have been lately studied in detail by Dr. Jacques Pellegrin, of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris. He shows that any species of fish may be poisonous under certain circumstances, that under certain conditions certain species are poisonous, and that certain kinds are poisonous more or less at all times. The following account is condensed from Dr. Pellegrin's observations. [Illustration: FIG. 137.--_Tetraodon meleagris_ (Lacépède). Riu Kiu Islands.] The flesh of fishes soon undergoes decomposition in hot climates. The consumption of decayed fish may produce serious disorders, usually with symptoms of diarrhoea or eruption of the skin. There is in this case no specific poison, but the formation of leucomaines through the influence of bacteria. This may take place with other kinds of flesh, and is known as botulism, or allantiasis. For this disease, as produced by the flesh of fishes, Dr. Pellegrin suggests the name of ichthyosism It is especially severe in certain very oily fishes, as the tunny, the anchovy, or the salmon. The flesh of these and other fishes occasionally produces similar disorders through mere indigestion. In this case the flesh undergoes decay in the stomach. In certain groups (wrasse-fishes, parrot-fishes, etc.) in the tropics, individual fishes are sometimes rendered poisonous by feeding on poisonous mussels, holothurians, or possibly polyps, species which at certain times, and especially in their spawning season, develops alkaloids which themselves may cause ciguatera. In this case it is usually the very old or large fishes which are liable to be infected. In some markets numerous species are excluded as suspicious for this reason. Such a list is in use in the fish-market of Havana, where the sale of certain species, elsewhere healthful, or at the most suspected, was rigidly prohibited under the Spanish régime. A list of these suspicious fishes has been given by Prof. Poey. [Illustration: FIG. 138.--The Trigger-fish, _Balistes carolinensis_ Gmelin. New York.]