214 FISHERIES OF THE ORIENTAL REGION, 



acuminate, shining ; porl very flat and thin, obtuse at both ends, 

 an inch to an inch and a-half long, the suture bordered by a 

 narrow wing, with one or two seeds. This species is found on all 

 the eastern coasts of Australia as far south as the jungles on the 

 Hastings river. In the Asiatic tropics it is very widely dis- 

 tributed and common. 



3. Dekris forsteniaxa, B1. Tuba-perampuan or the woman's 

 fi-h-poison. I found that in the Moluccas this species has also 

 fi.sh-poisoning qualities atti'ibuted to it, though why it is called 

 woman's lish-poison I have been unable to ascertain. It grows in 

 Celebes, in all the Moluccas, Borneo, and less commonly in the 

 Malay Peiiinsula. 



4. Artanema sesamoides, Benth. In Malay Tuba-berebai. 

 This is a small and somewhat ornamental species of a scrophula- 

 riaceous plant nearly alUed to the Australian A. finibriatum, and 

 resembling the common fox-glove {Digitalis) or the sesaraum plant. 

 I was not aware that any poisonous qualities were attributed to 

 it, but in south Sumatra the Lampong Malays use it as a fish- 

 poison. They gather the herbaceous stems and throw them over- 

 night into the water in considerable quantity. In the morning 

 most of the fishes of the pool are found floating on the surface. 



5. Pongamia volubilis, Z. and M. (Leguminosce). In Sunda 

 named by the natives Tuba-genu. It is a climbing plant very 

 much like Derris; in fact it is only separated from that genus and 

 Lo'iichocarjms by the peculiarity of its pods, which are of an oblong 

 form, about two inches long and an inch broad, flat, thick and 

 hard, not Avinged at the edges, and containing only one thick 

 kidney-shaped seed. In Java there is no plant so much sought 

 after as a fish-poison. The .stems, when cue into short lengths 

 and thrown into the water, stupefy the fishes more rapidly than 

 any other fish-poison ; sometimes in less than an hour the efiects 

 are produced. A closely allied species (P. glabra) is extensively 

 difiiised throughout southern India, Burmah, Malacca, the Indian 

 Archipelago, S. China, N. Australia, and the Fiji Islands. The 

 seeds produce aVjundance of oil much used by the poorer classes. 



