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 quality, 

 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. 



