304 ON POISONOUS FISHES AND FISH-POISONS. 



sorts of skate, and all the flat-fish, may be quoted as instances of this 

 character." (YarrellV Introduction to History of British Fishes.') All our 

 surface-swimmers die and decompose soon, while our ground-fish have the 

 power of endurance more manifested as a quality of their organisation. 



It should be remarked that the mullets being vegetable feeders, or 

 fishes taking animal food in a state of maceration or solution in the unc- 

 tuous ooze of river-beds, are at all times wholesome fishes. Their sensi- 

 tive lips, with ciliary fringes, hardly fit them for taking aliment of any 

 substance harder than pulp ; hence it is that in England they bait for them 

 with the pith of cabbage boiled in fat, and we entice them with avocada 

 pear and the soft portions of wild fig. 



The mud-fishes, whether described under the name of Gobius, Elio- 

 tris, or Philyprius, are all fishes of the most esteemed character for the 

 table. " Ce sont, en general," says Mons. Valenciennes, in describing the 

 Eliotris, " un groupe des Gobioides k ventrales separees," the true gobies, 

 as in our sand-fishes, having the ventral fins united like a cup, — " ce sont, en 

 general, des poissons paresseux, qui se tiennent tranquillement dans la vase 

 ou dans des trous de rochers. La plupart fournissent un aliment agreable 

 et de facile digestion." Speaking of the gyrinus and guarina specially, two 

 of the gobies, he says of the first, " l'espece est trds-estimee & St Domingue, 

 sourtout pour les malades ;" and of the second, " repandue dans toutes lea 

 rivieres de l'ile de Cube, elle atteint dix-huit a vingt deux pouces de lon- 

 gueur, et on Vestime beaucoup comme aliment." (C. & V., Hist, des Poissons, 

 vol. xii., liv. xiv., ch. xiv.) The flesh of all is truly savoury, and nourish- 

 ing, and very digestible. 



If your readers from time to time would give notices of any peculiarity 

 in the qualities of fish generally brought into the markets, they would con- 

 tribute much important information to the public and naturalist. 



I must not omit to remark, it has sometimes happened that fishes have 

 contracted a prejudicial quality, by being covered over in the baskets, in 

 which they are carried for sale, with the leaves of poisonous shrubs. 

 Instances of many such occurrences could be readily quoted. On these 

 occasions, fishes get qualities assigned them which do not belong to them. 

 Jamaica. 



PINE-WOOL. 



BY M. C. COOKE, F.S.S. 



A new manufacture has recently sprung into existence on the continent 

 of Europe which promises to become one of importance. It consists of 

 the utilisation of the acicular leaves or " needles " of coniferous trees, 

 hitherto a waste substance. It was long ago known that pine-leaves 

 consisted of a bundle of tough fibrous material, agglutinated together, and 



