Occasional Notes. 381 
The dish of stewed terrapins was suspected to have 
been a mixture of the diamond-back, Emys palustris, 
and the red-bellied terrapin, E. rugosa. This is not the 
only instance of the occurrence of bots in turtles, as 
Prof. A. S. PACKARD notes the case of larvae being 
found in the skin of the neck of the box-turtle, Cistudo 
Carolina." 
Haiari Poison. — Through the kindness of Mr. 
Rodway, I have been able to make the following inter- 
esting extract from an old number of the Proceedings of 
the Botanical Society, Edinburgh (for 1S37, when the 
late Mr. W. H. Campbell was the Secretary of the 
Society). Dr. Maclagan at the June meeting, 1837, 
exhibited specimens of the root of the Haiari, received 
by him from Mr. Watt, Surgeon, Demerara, and gave 
the following account of the properties of the dried root. 
" It was found that the plant, though dried, still 
retained the property of poisoning fishes. Four ounces 
of the root yielded 320 grains of watery extract: ; twenty 
grains of this extract were diffused through six ounces of 
water, and two drachms of this in six ounces of water, 
killed a minnow placed in it. From trials on several 
minnows, it was found that symptoms of poisoning 
manifested themselves in about four minutes, and proved 
fatal, with convulsions, in a period varying from one 
hour, to two hours and a half. On comparing the effects 
of this extract on fishes, with extracts of the more ordi- 
nary narcotics used in medicines, Dr. MACLAGAN found 
that in activity it came near to Turkey opium, and was 
superior to Belladonna, Hyoscyamtis and Conium. 
3 B2 
