The Parrot-ishes 339 
with whom I came in contact all believed it 
poisonous, and invariably killed and threw it 
away. It affected water of medium depth, but 
came in upon the lagoons at night to feed. At 
Porto Rico, according to Evermann, it is a more 
or less important food fish, the people not having 
the foolish superstition of many of the Conchs. 
Dr. Jordan states that “In Hawaii the parrot- 
fishes, being eaten raw, are very highly esteemed 
and even once held as tabu, to be touched only 
by royalty.” As near as I could determine, the 
men whom I knew, believed the fish to be poison- 
ous because it was “ green,” when in point of fact 
it was blue, though another large green parrot- 
fish and several small ones found here fell under 
the ban. Long John explained to me that on 
the Cuban coast there were “submarine ledges 
of copper,” which certain fishes, like parrot-fishes, 
ate and so became poisoned. No argument 
could convince the men that they were mistaken, 
even though I ate the parrot-fish and others, and 
still lived to tell the story. Long John met this 
self-sacrificing experiment with the remark that 
“Some folks was pizen proof.” 
With the blue parrot-fish at Long Key another 
form, Pseudoscarus guacamaza, equally as large 
