OF THE CARRIBBEE ISLANDS. 71 



when of the ordinary size, but become sometimes poisonous, 

 when they grow very large. What do you suppose can be the 

 reason of this ? Do these fish live on a different kind of food 

 when arrived at this gross state, from what they did when 

 smaller ? Does the poisonous quality reside in the fat that 

 has accumulated under the skin ? or what -is the change indu- 

 ced upon the fish in consequence of his increased bulk, that 

 renders him poisonous ? 



" 6. Are not fishes that are found to be poisonous general- 

 ly in the highest season, and of superior flavour ? 



" 7. Has any thing remarkable ever been detected in re- 

 gard to the liver or other viscera of poisonous fishes, or are 

 there any marks by which they can at all be distinguished 

 from others of healthy quality ? 



" 8. Is any faith due to the test of boiling a piece of silver 

 in the same pot with the suspected fish, when cooked ; and 

 will not all fishes that abound with dark-coloured fats under 

 the skin, imbue silver, more particularly when long boiled, 

 with a tint of the same ? Have not these fishes been eaten 

 with impunity after they had stained the silver that had been 

 used for the above test ? 



" 9. Has the existence of copper-ore at the bottom of the 

 sea, so as to constitute what is called a copper-bank, in contact 

 with the waters, ever been ascertained; and if ascertained, 

 have the fishes caught there proved more remarkably poison- 

 ous than in other places ? 



" 10. Do fishes eat any species of marine plants, weeds, or 

 mosses, for food, and can any of those that fishes eat have the 

 effect of rendering them poisonous ? 



" 1 1. Are eels, mud-fish, and other species that live station- 

 ary in a great degree, amongst the weeds at the bottom of the 



sea, 



