is rich in phytosterols and iron but has a bitter taste; that of C. 

 microcarpum (syn. C. butyrosum sensu Staehl) is marked (11). 

 Carotenoids and significant amounts of provitamin A have been 

 reported in pique oils (12). Recently, de Oliveira and his co- 

 workers found extracts of C. brasiliense to have some activity 

 against Sarcoma 180, due mainly to their content of oleanolic 

 acid; friedelin, friedelinol, /3-sitosterol, stigmasterol and ellagic 

 acid were also isolated (13). 



With the exception of these brief notes, we are unaware of 

 basic studies of either the chemistry or the pharmacology of this 

 small New World plant family. 



The use of Caryocar as a fish poison in the northwest Amazon 

 of Brazil and Colombia is interestingly unique. A hole is dug in 

 the ground — approximately two feet in depth. It is filled repeat- 

 edly with water, until the loose earth remaining at the base of the 

 hole is a semi-liquid mud; it may on occasion be stirred vigor- 

 ously by pounding with a piece of wood or section of a tree 

 trunk as a pestle. Fruits of the Caryocar are then dumped into 

 the hole. Pounding to mix the fruits with the mud and to crush 

 the pericarp of the fruit is then carried on for twenty minutes or 

 more, after which the mixture is cast into still water. The effects 

 are rapid; the water becomes muddy or cloudy, and fish come to 

 the surface for air and are caught by hand. During the pounding 

 of the fruit-mud mixture and when it is thrown into the water, 

 extensive foaming is evident, indicating a high saponin content. 



Several species of Caryocar are employed as fish poisons by 

 all Indian tribes in the Comisaria del Vaupes of Colombia and 



method 



comparison 



many other icthyotoxic plants of the region, is so widespread 

 and clearly one of the preferred procedures amongst the numer- 

 ous Tukanoan tribes of the Vaupes. 



The Colombian voucher specimens cited are preserved in the 

 Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames and/ or in the Gray Her- 

 barium (both of Harvard University) and in the Herbario 

 Nacional de Colombia; the Brazilian specimens cited are in the 

 collection of the New York Botanical Garden. The identifica- 

 tions have been checked or made by Dr. Ghillean T. Prance; 



249 



