70 ON THE POISONOUS FISHES 



billed sprat. Indeed they might be seen by any who would 

 take the trouble to attend to them, selecting from their sprat- 

 nets the yellow-billed for bait, reserving the balahoo, a fish 

 not unlike the sprat, but about the size of a pilchard or small 

 herring, and the common white sprats of the same size, caught 

 in the same net, of the same shoal, and on the same ground, 

 for market ; which last were never known, under any circum- 

 stances, to prove poisonous. 



The importance and obscurity of the subject, on which so 

 little light had been obtained from our inquiries at Guada- 

 loupe, called for further investigation, and by direction of Sir 

 James Leith, I circulated the following queries, amongst the 

 faculty of all the colonies : 



" 1. What fish have you knowledge of, as possessing, when 

 eaten, a poisonous quality, in the West Indies ? 



" 2. Were these fishes poisonous in all places and seasons, 

 or only at particular times, and in particular places ? Did 

 they prove poisonous to the majority of those who ate them, 

 or only to particular individuals ? 



" 3. Did the other fishes inhabiting the same places, exhi- 

 bit when eaten, more or less of the same poisonous qualit}'^, 

 or was it found in only one or two particular species, or only 

 in one or two individuals of the same species ? 



" 4. Can it be ascertained whether any species of food, that 

 fishes incidentally eat, can communicate this poisonous qua- 

 lity ? 



" 5. It has been seen, that fishes such as the King Fish *, 

 and the different kinds of cavalloes, can be eaten with safety 



when 



Xiphias of naturalists. 



