FISE POISONING AND POISONS.— HAMLYN-HAMBIS AND SMITH. 11 



<iomparatively small waterholes. It is useless in running water, and acts better 

 in fresh than in salt. ' ' 



Specimens of a similar vine have been received from W. C. Minniss, 

 Mabuiag Is., Torres Strait, under the native name " Sagee." It has there the 

 reputation of an effective and rapid poison, the stem only being used, and has 

 been identified by C. T. White as a species of Derris. While the specific naming 

 has not been possible, we are assured of its identity with uliginosa, which is 

 plentifully distributed on the mainland and islands. 



A Derris has been received from Whitten Bros., Samarai, Papua, as a 

 iish-poison locally known as ' ' Wild Dynamite. ' ' 



Derris uliginosa has also been forwarded by J. S. Bruce from Murray 

 Island, where it is known as ' ' Sud. ' '" The material was taken to lagoons on 

 the reef in small bundles (at low water), and, after beating up with stones, 

 immersed till the water became mill?y. The fish, forced from their holes, came 

 to the surface stupefied. Mr. Murray reports that since the advent of hook and 

 line the practice has fallen into disuse. 



According to Maiden the plant is used for fish-poisoning purposes in 

 many tropical countries. 



The experiments of the authors confirm the extreme utility and effectiveness 

 of the plant as a stupefacient. The test fish, first evidencing considerable excite- 

 ment, rapidly became stupefied and periodically rose to the surface. An infusion 

 of one part of dried stem in one thousand parts of water proved fatal in under 

 an hour. The rapidity of action, it may be surmised, has earned for the plant 

 the name of "Wild Dynamite" among the natives of Dunk Island."^ 



DERRIS KOOLGIBBERAH, Bail. 

 " GERRENI," " Poison Rope," Edmonton, N.Q. 

 A scrub vine similar to Derris uliginosa, which it simulates in action, and 

 in test experiments proved almost equally effective. 



Greshoff records the use of various species of Derris as fish and arrow 

 poisons in the East, ascribing the activity of D. elliptica to a resinous body, 

 derrid — soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, and amyl alcohol, and sparingly 

 soluble in water and potash solution. 



Derrid is characterised by Hartwich and Gieger -'* as giving a blood-red 

 colouration with concentrated sulphuric acid containing a trace of ferric chloride. 



Pure derrid, isolated from D. elliptica, has since been described by 

 Sillevold,^^ who assigns to it the foi-mula C33H30O10 and melting point 73° C. 



The Identification of Derrid in D. nliginosa and D. Jcoolgibherah. 



The ether-soluble resin of both D. uliginosa and D. Jcoolgibherah proved 

 completely soluble in alcohol, chloroform, and amyl alcohol, and strikes a brown 

 colour with concentrated sulphuric acid, and blood-red with sulphuric acid and 

 ferric chloride. 



•'^ 22 Haddon, A. C, " Hunting and Fishing" Reports, Cambridge Anthropological Expedition 

 i;o Torres Straits, vol. iv., 1912, writes of tliis as " Sad." 



^23Banfield, E. J., The Confessions of a Beachcomber, 1908, p. 269. 

 ' ' sijiartw-ich and Gieger, Archiv. Pharm., 1901, vol. 239, pp. 491-505 ; Abs. C.S.J., 1902, 

 ^ol. 82, pt. i., p. 114. 



2* Vide Hanriot, Comptes Rendues, 1907. 



