408 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 



On this trip across Peru and Brazil we saw therefore 11 different 

 kinds of plants that were said to be used in fishing. These consti- 

 tute only a small part of the total number of species reported as 

 South American fish poisons, fliough we believe that Lonchocarpus 

 nicou and perhaps Tephrosla toxicaria are among the most com- 

 monly used ones, at least in the northern half of the continent. Far- 

 ther south in Brazil the prevailing fish poisons belong to Serjania 

 and PaulUnia^ of the family Sapindaceae. 



Several lists of fish poisons have been compiled, the earliest being 

 that of the distinguished Venezuelan botanist Ernst,* who included 

 26 species from South America. Papers by Radlkofer,^ Greshoff,^ 

 and Howes ^ brought the total known from South America to about 

 100. 



There has been a revival of interest in this ancient custom due to 

 the discovery that many fish poisons contain substances that may 

 prove of high value in the manufacture of insecticides. So great 

 is the damage wrought upon cattle and crops by the hordes of in- 

 sect pests that chemists are ever on the lookout for efiective weapons 

 to fight them. When experiments are concluded it may be found 

 that the roots used by primitive peoples to obtain an important 

 element of their diet are the means of conserving the food supply 

 of the more highly civilized races. 



* Memoria botanica sobre el embarbascar 6 sea la pesca por media de plantas venenosas, 

 Caracas 1881 ; reprinted in Anales Acad. Cienc, Ilabana 18 : 135-147, 1S81. 



' Ueber flscheigiftende Pflanzen, in Akad. Wiss. Miinchen 16 : 379-416, 1886. 



" Beschrijving der giftige en bedwelmende Planten bij de Vischangst in Bebruik. Medel. 

 ' Slands Plant. Batavia, pt. 1, 1893 ; pt. 2, 1900 ; pt. 3, 1913. 



' Kew Bull. Misc. Inf. 1930 : pp. 129-153, 1930. 



