  Rather more curious stories are found in his accounts of development, physiology, and behavioral psychology. Thus, the root cause of increased shellfish growth and marrow production during full moons is increased humidity, stemming from the excitement of lunar moisture corpuscles by sunlight. These corpuscles are then transported to the Earth by rays from the sun reflected off the moon (O I 450a-451a). He accounts for toxicological phenomena, such as the stunning capacity of electric rays (torpedine), as emission of corpuscles with a dulling power (O I 454b-455a). Other poisons provoke strange behavior, such as those of the tarantula. These may work by producing activity in the victim sympathetic to the attacker's activity, a result of chemical alterations the poisons bring about in the victim's sensory capacities and attunements (O I 456a). As concerns animal psychology, Gassendi endorses Lucretius's suggestion (RN IV) that lions avoid roosters at dawn because the latter can inject harmful corpuscles into the former's eyes (O I 453b-454a). Sheep avoid unfamiliar wolves because wolves emit corpuscles of an odor offensive to sheep (O I 456a).