438 
on the mouth, lips, and in the armpits; intense 
thirst, but due to the condition of the mouth, 
inability to drink; finally, the victims died, de- 
scribed as being unable to breathe. 
The green turtle, Chelonia my das (Linnaeus) , 
is eaten throughout the Gilbert Islands and has 
not been implicated in any poisoning. 
It should be noted that the hawksbill turtle is 
primarily a carnivore (Loveridge, 1946), pre- 
ferring crabs and molluscs, although in captivity 
they will eat fish as well as seaweeds. On the 
other hand, the green turtle is primarily a herbi- 
vore, grazing many hours a day on beds of 
Thalassia (Loveridge, 1946, citing Deraniyagala, 
1939). In captivity the green turtle may prefer 
animal food (Loveridge, 1946). In the Gilberts 
young green turtles are sometimes kept until 
they are large enough to eat, being fed almost 
exclusively on fish. 
The hawksbill and green turtles were and still 
are Gilbertese family totems. Members of the 
families concerned will often maintain that all 
turtles are poisonous. 
Invertebrate Poisoning 
Several species of crabs are considered by the 
Gilbertese to be deadly poisonous, but very few 
species of crabs are commonly eaten. Te kukua, 
Zozymus aeneus (Linnaeus) , is reported by Ban- 
ner and Randall ( 1952 ) to be deadly poisonous 
on Onotoa; although Tarawa people would agree 
that it is toxic, this species is eaten on Arorae, 
Beru, and Nonouti. Another species, Carpilius 
convexus (Forskal) generally considered to be 
poisonous, is similar to a commonly eaten spe- 
cies, te ntababa, the red-eyed crab, and in the 
dark may easily be confused with it, especially 
by an inexperienced fisherman. Another with the 
reputation of being deadly poisonous is an un- 
common small black and green or yellow crab. 
Because of its size it would never be taken for 
food; but it is said to have been used by the 
practitioners of black magic to poison their vic- 
tims. However, the Gilbertese are reluctant to 
discuss such practices and the crabs involved. 
In September 1961 a Bairiki, Tarawa, woman 
died after eating crabs. The crabs had been col- 
lected by torch fishermen on the Bairiki reef. 
When they returned they flung the whole catch 
on the ashes of a fire, an unusual procedure, boil- 
ing being the usual Gilbertese method of cook- 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XVIII, October 1964 
ing crabs. It is said that the woman, being 
greedy, did not wait until the crabs were fully 
cooked, but grabbed them half-cooked from the 
fire and ate them. She was taken ill, removed to 
the Colony Central Hospital, and died. The as- 
sistant medical officer who dealt with the case 
described her death as being due to acute al- 
lergy poisoning. As it was dark when the crabs 
were cooked and eaten, identifying the species 
responsible was not possible. 
Molluscs are not considered to be toxic by the 
Gilbertese on any island. Banner and Randall 
(1952) stated that the Onotoans reported that 
large tritons, Charonia tritonis (Linnaeus ) , were 
toxic; however, they could find no specific case 
of intoxication from this snail (Banner, per- 
sonal communication ) . The large conch, S trom- 
bus sp., has been reported as toxic from certain 
areas in the Bahamas (Randall, 1958), but ap- 
parently this mollusc is not found in the Gil- 
berts. The blood-mouth conch, Strombus sp., is 
one of the most common shellfish in the Gil- 
berts. Vast numbers are collected and eaten, 
either raw or cooked, but so far none have caused 
any poisoning. Both small and large spider 
conches, Lambis spp., found on the algae-covered 
reef flats as well as in deeper water, are com- 
monly eaten by the Gilbertese, but have never 
been reported toxic. The commercial trochus, 
Trochus niloticus (Linnaeus), is not found in 
the Gilberts, but smaller Trochus spp. are not 
uncommon; although these are eaten when col- 
lected during general gleaning on the reef, they 
are considered somewhat small for food. Turban 
shells, Turbo spp., are eaten and are commonly 
used for bait. These snails are picked up on the 
reef, broken open, a piece is bitten off and put on 
the hook, and the rest is eaten raw at the time. 
Cowries of various kinds are found throughout 
the Gilberts, but are never eaten by the Gil- 
bertese. Many varieties of pelycopods are eaten 
without any causing illness. 
The Gilbertese, surprisingly enough, do not 
make as much use of the various seafoods on 
their reefs as do many islanders in the Pacific. 
Sea urchins, again reported by Randall (1958) 
as causing a ciguatera-like poisoning, are not 
eaten by the Gilbertese. 
During the Japanese occupation some vari- 
eties of seaweeds were eaten by the Gilbertese, 
but as soon as food supplies returned to normal 
