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Aquarium Number 



PREPAREn BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE AQUARIUM 



ZOOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Number SS 



PubU.shed hi/ the Xeie YorL' Zoobiaicul Soeietij 



March. 1910 



FISHING WITH POISONS. 



THE New York Aquarium, while the largest 

 institution of its kind in the world, is still 

 sadly limited in its collections of aquatic life, 

 and the Director does not always have new ex- 

 hibits to draw upon for matter for this Bulle- 

 tin. Let us leave our restricted field in Xew 

 York for a few minutes and visit the world's 

 great center of fish life — Polynesia. 



The aborigines of many countries resort at 

 times to methods of fish catching that are 

 scarcely known to the civilized world. Al- 

 though practiced in widely-separated regions, 

 the methods of taking fishes by poisons, have a 



common resemblance in that tluy all involve the 

 temporary stupefying of the fishes taken. 

 Wherever ])racticed, the catching is done with- 

 out apparatus of any sort, other than the locally 

 prepared drug employed for the purpose, which 

 is placed in the water in large quantities. This 

 in apparently all cases, consists of the juices of 

 crushed plants, different kinds being used in dif- 

 ferent countries. 



The plant, of whatever species is available, 

 is gathered in great quantities and crushed until 

 a sufficient supply of the thick, gummy juice is 

 [jrocured the gathering and preparation of the 





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