These examples will suffice; and we will not dilate further on this subject, because, as already stated, but little is accurately known regarding the subject, and what is known may be summed up as follows: Fish-poisons always give rise to an intense pain, frequently with motor paralysis, followed by paralysis of sensation; they affect the heart, arresting it in diastole; and they are more dangerous to fish and cold-blooded animals than to mammifers. =Poisons of the Hymenoptera.=[158]--The poison system of the bee, and of such insects as the wasps, bumblebees, etc., is known to consist of a hollow sting consisting of two sharp needles communicating with two poison-bearing glands, and forming a flexible tube. One of these glands secretes an acid liquid (formic acid); the other secretes an alkaline fluid. [158] PHILOUZE: Venin des Abeilles. _Annales de la Société Linn. du Maine-et-Loire_, IV. The action of the bee-poison is very often benign, but there have been cases where death followed the infliction of numerous stings. Our information regarding the poison of the cantharides and flies is very vague[159]; the same is true of the poisons of various arachnids, acarides, and myriapoda. So far as spiders are concerned, it is known that their poison is an oily liquid having an acid and bitter taste, and containing a toxalbumin derived from the skin of the insect. The bite of the ordinary spider occasions simply a slight local pain, with redness; that of the large poisonous spider, however, may kill the larger animals, and even man. [159] JOYEUX-LAFFRIÉE: _Thèse de doctorat en Médecine_, Paris, 1883; P. BERT: _Compt. rend. de la Soc. de Biol._, II [4], p. 136. =Poison of Scorpions.=[160]--This poison is a colorless, acid liquid, having a higher specific gravity than water, in which liquid it is soluble. The famed legend of the suicide of scorpions is well known to all. It is stated that when the insect finds itself in a position where its death is inevitable, it stings itself, and dies from the effects of its own poison. A simple method has even been described of bringing this result about experimentally by surrounding the insect with a circle of fire. Bounne, of Madras,[161] who has studied the procedure, has demonstrated its entire falsity by showing, first of all, that the insect dies from the effects of the excessive heat, and further, that the poison of the scorpion is harmless to individuals of the species that furnish it. [160] CALMETTE: _Annales de l'Instit. Pasteur_, X, p. 232. [161] _Proceedings of the Royal Society_, XLII, p. 17. Metchinkoff[162] has confirmed these facts, and has moreover demonstrated that the blood of the scorpion possesses an undoubted antitoxic power against the poison of the insect. [162] METCHNIKOFF: _L'Immunité_, p. 344.