ull-grown specimens sometimes extends right down the back to the tail.
From the top of the upper jaw, along the back and sides, are scores of
needle-pointed spines, every one of which is a machine for the ejection
of the venom contained at the root. As the creature lies hidden in a
niche of coral awaiting its prey--it is a voracious feeder--it cannot be
distinguished except by the most careful scrutiny; then you may see that
under the softly waving and suspended piece of seaweed (as you imagine
it to be) there are fins and a tail. And, as the _nofu_ has a huge
mouth, which is carefully concealed by a fringe of apparently harmless
seaweed or other marine growth, he snaps up every unfortunate small fish
which comes near him. In the Pacific Islands the _nofu_ (_i.e._, "the
waiting one ") is generally a dark brown, inclining to black, with
splashes or blotches of orange, or marbled red and grey. In Australian
waters--I have caught them in the Parramatta river, Port Jackson--they
are invariably either a dark brown or a horrid, dulled yellow.

Despite its poison-injecting apparatus this fish is eaten by the natives
of the Society, Hervey, and Paumotu groups of islands, in the South
Pacific, where its flesh is considered a delicacy. It is prepared for
cookery by being skinned, in which operation the venomous sacks are
removed. In 1882, when I was living on the island of Peru in the Gilbert
Group (the Francis Island of the Admiralty charts), a Chinese trader
there constantly caught them in the lagoon and ate them in preference
to any other fish. Here in Peru the _nofu_ would bury itself in the soft
sand and watch for its prey, and could always be taken with a hook. And
yet in Eastern Polynesia and in the Equatorial Islands of the Pacific
many deaths have occurred through the sting of this fish, children
invariably succumbing to tetanus within twenty-four hours of being
stung.

A little more about poisonous fish, _i.e._, fish which at one time of
the year are good and palatable food and at others deadly. In the lagoon
island of Nukufetau (the "De Peyster Island" of the charts), where the
writer lived for twelve months, the fish both within the lagoon and
outside the barrier reef became highly poisonous at certain times of the
year. Flying-fish (which were never caught inside the lagoon) would be
safe to eat if taken on the lee side of the island, dangerous, or at
least doubtful, if taken on the weather side; _manini_, a small st