colour. It is filled with a jelly-like pulp, in which are ten or fifteen seeds. These seeds are round, with a concave and an opposite convex surface, and about an inch in diameter. They are rough, and of a grey colour; the internal kernel is yellowish white, and tough like horn; it is intensely bitter, and used by the Indians as a tonic, and in dysentery, possessing valuable medicinal properties.

Various ceremonies are performed by the Indians, both preparatory to, and during the preparation of the poison from this plant. It need not be said, these ceremonies are useless, being the result of superstition, not unconnected perhaps with a desire in the poison-maker, to throw an air of mystery around his operations. Stripped of all these mystic accompaniments, the preparation of the poison is as follows: The stem of the plant, cut into convenient pieces of about three feet in length, is stripped of its bark, (the bark of the woody parts, with its alburnum, possessing the active principle in its highest degree,) and this is first pounded, and then steeped in a new earthen vessel of water. It is allowed to macerate, the vessel being well covered, for a considerable time, till the water is tinged with a yellow colour. It is then filtered. Several other plants have in the meantime been procured, and their juice extracted in a similar manner, ready to be added, by degrees, to the urari juice, as it begins to become concentrated by the action of a slow fire, and assume the consistency of syrup. The juice of these plants imparts to the urari a darker colour than it would otherwise exhibit. The process is now continued over the fire till the whole has the appearance of tar. It is then put into small calabashes, well covered with leaves, to prevent the air from affecting the poison; and if properly secured, this will keep its strength, as the Indians assert, for two years. When required for immediate use, a little quantity is put into a separate calabash, and as much juice of the cassada added as will make it pliable. The Indians assert, that this juice (from the poisonous root of the Jatropha manihot) re-awakens the slumbering powers of the urari. In the preparation of this poison, there is no danger: the vapours exhaled during the process of concentrating the extracts are not injurious; but as it requires several days before the requisite degree of concentration is attained, and as the vessel has to be watched during the whole time,

the scum occasionally taken off, and the fire kept at a proper heat, the preparation is troublesome to the native, who, indolent by habit, seldom makes it more than once or twice a year. Moreover, the process is carried on in a tent, or cabin, erected for the purpose; the poisonmaker eats no meat during the time it is carried on, and fasts previously; forbids any who have eaten sugar to approach the place; indeed, prohibits every one, and especially women, from coming near the urari-house, and will not himself mix in the society of others, lest the power of the urari be destroyed. While we smile at the charlatanism of the Indian poisonmaker, let us reflect whether we ourselves are not often imposed upon by similar mummery.-N.

REMARKABLE FISHES.

FEW among the finny tribes of ocean engage the attention of the voyager who passes over the intertropical latitudes more than the dolphin, (Coryphana,) the bonito, and the flying fish. Dolphins, bonitos, and flying fish are perpetually alluded to in the works of those who have given us accounts of their maritime adventures, and the descriptions of the habits of these fish and of the incessant warfare which the two former maintain against the latter tenants of the same sea, and doomed to persecution, are replete with interest.

"On arriving in tropical regions," says a talented writer, "the curious flying fish is seen, and affords some variety to the tedium of a ship; the passengers amusing themselves by watching its flight, and sometimes its persecution, when pursued by bonitos, dolphins, albicores, among the finny, and tropic birds, boobies, gannets, etc., among the feathered tribes. I have frequently derived both information and amusement by watching the flight of these fish; to observe them skim the surface of the water for a great distance, sometimes before, and at other times against the direction of the wind, elevating themselves either to a short height from the surface, or to five or six feet, and then diverging a little from their course, drop suddenly into their proper element; sometimes, when their flight was not high above the water, and it blew fresh, they would meet with an elevated wave, which invariably buried them beneath it, but they would often again start from it and renew their flight.”

The term flight, after all, is perhaps not very applicable to the aerial excursions of these curious fishes; for it does not appear that their expanded fins act any other part than that of parachutes, though they are asserted by some to be used in the same manner as wings, which cannot well be the case. The flight or leap of these fishes seldom extends beyond two hundred yards at a stretch, but the height to which they rise is very variable. Mr. Bennett says, that he has known them come on board ship, at a height of fourteen feet and upwards; but they some. times fall on board man-of-war vessels, at a height of from twenty to twenty-five feet above the water. Their greatest elevation is attained by the spring which propels them above their native element, and from this they decline more or less gradually; they are, however, capable of turning in their course, and on dropping into the water, of rising again almost instantly, so as to keep up, for a great

distance, a quick succession of flying leaps, their only chance of evading the ruthless pursuit of their enemies.

The chase of a shoal of flying fish by bonitos, or dolphins, (Coryphana,) is an interesting spectacle. The flying fish rise with a rustling noise, and sweep along, while the bonito in full pursuit springs several yards out of the water, like a tiger darting at his prey. But the air is as pregnant with danger to the flying fish, as the water boobies, gannets, and tropic birds are hovering on the watch, and pounce with the velocity of an arrow on their hapless victims.

The flying fishes do not belong all to one genus: one group of flying fishes is allied to the gurnard, and constitutes the genus Dactylopterus; another, the genus Exocetus. It is, however, not so much to the flying fish, as to their pursuers, the dolphin and bonito, that we invite the attention of our readers.

The dolphin is a name given by sailors

to a fish of the genus Coryphaena, and must not be confounded with the true dolphin, one of the whale tribe, (Cetacea,) and closely allied to our porpoise. This latter animal (Delphinus delphis, Linn.) appears to be the one which the ancients celebrated under that name: it is well described by Aristotle, and is common in the Mediterranean, gambolling in shoals at the mouths of rivers, and displaying a variety of rapid movements, well described by Ovid. The flying fish have to escape

the pursuit of this foe, as well as of the Coryphaena and bonito.

The Coryphaena hippurus, or dolphin of the sailors, is of all the oceanic fishes one of the most brilliant and richly coloured: its tints above are silvery blue, with spots or marks of deep blue; the under surface is citron yellow, with marks of delicate pale blue; but the colours of this fish appear ever changing as they glow with the metallic hues of burnished gold and silver, or sparkle like gems in

the rays of the sun. Nothing can exceed in brilliancy the spectacle produced by a shoal of these fishes playing round a vessel, near the smooth surface of the sunlit sea. The rapidity of their movements, their sudden turns and evolutions; now their sides, now their backs glancing in the light, while a thousand changing tints reflected from their glittering scales, almost dazzle the sight of the beholder, combine to form one of the most pleasing exhibitions, which they who traverse the ocean meet with in their progress. It is only while living and in full vigour that the Coryphaena, or dolphin, glows with hues of such exquisite brilliancy: when the fish is taken out of the water, the colours fade as it dies, and at last vanish; a dull greyish brown remaining in their stead. The species of the genus Coryphæna are tolerably numerous; all, however, are distinguished by the richness of

their colours, by their great activity and boldness, and by their voracity, not only in the pursuit of flying fishes, and others less able to escape, but in seizing whatever is thrown overboard by passengers; baits are therefore greedily swallowed, so that it is not difficult to capture them. The Coryphaena hippurus (the Coryphéne dofin of Daubenton) is from a yard to a yard and a half in length, its form is compressed laterally; the dorsal fin commences on the top of the head and runs along the back, supported by flexible rays; the head is elevated above, and its profile arched; the palate, as well as are the jaws, is furnished with teeth.

Though most abundant in the warmer latitudes of the ocean, this beautiful fish occasionally visits more temperate seas, and is not unfrequently to be seen in the Mediterranean. It is the 'Inovрos of Aristotle, and the Hippurus of Pliny,

The bonito (Thynnus pelamys, Cep.) is closely allied to the tunny, (Thynnus vulgaris,) and also, but less immediately, to the common mackerel, (Scomber scombrus, Linn.) The bonito, however, never attains to so great a size as the tunny, (which is commonly four feet in length, and often much more,) being usually about thirty inches. Though chiefly confined to the warmer latitudes of the ocean, where it wanders in shoals, giving chase to the flying fish, it sometimes visits more northern latitudes, and occasionally the British coast. Its relative, the tunny, is a British fish, but is especially abundant

at certain seasons in the Mediterranean, and is a great source of revenue along the southern shores of France, and in Sardinia, and Sicily. Vast multitudes are annually taken by nets and various other modes of fishing; and, as the fish is highly esteemed for the table, its flesh being firm, red, and of fine flavour, the demand ever equals the proceeds of the fishery. Prepared with salt and oil, the flesh of this fish, under the name of Thon mariné, is an article of commerce, and may be obtained in the proper season at the Italian warehouses in London; it is eaten cold, like pickled salmon. The flesh of

the bonito, though firm and red, like that of the tunny, is very inferior, and by most thought even disagreeable. The bonito is very beautiful, its colours being rich and metallic; the back is dark steel blue, the sides are dusky, passing into white below; behind the pectoral fins, is a bright triangular space, from which begin four dark lines, that extend along each side of the belly to the tail. As in the mackerel, the scales are few.

It is mentioned by Commerson, and has since been noticed by others, that the bonito is much infested with internal worms, (Entozoa) of various kinds, which even pierce through the coats of the stomach and intestines, and live upon the juices of their living victim. It may be added, however, that all fish are peculiarly obnoxious to intestinal worms, and they abound in the liver. In the liver of the common ced, for instance, numbers may be usually observed. The presence of these parasitic animals, however, disturbs the health and vital energies of the animals much less than might be sup posed, and often, perhaps, not at all. From these internal foes, the bonito probably suffers less than from the harassments of larger fishes, of which it is the common prey; while in turn it harasses the flying fish, not only chasing them through the water, but springing at them as they sweep above the surface, and generally crossing them in their course. It is only the smaller of the flying fish, however, that become its prey.

The albicore or albacore, is a fish often alluded to by voyagers; but under this term it would appear that several of the family of Scomberida are confounded, the term, in fact, being indefinite. It has, we believe, been applied to that singular animal the pilot-fish, (Naucrates ductor,) and also to the Scomber glaucus of Linnæus. Lacépède, in his "Histoire Naturelle des Poissons," restricts the term albicore to the species described under that title by Sloane, in his History of Jamaica, a species which Cuvier refers to his genus Auxis, (See Regni Anim., vol. ii. page 199,) a genus of the Scomberida. With respect to the particular species intended by voyagers, (seeing that the appellation is vaguely used,) it cannot always be identified; for it seldom happens that their accounts descend to minute details. Like the tunny, however, and others of the same family, it is first seen in three degrees north latitude, and fol

lowed the ship to eleven degrees south, a distance of eight hundred and forty miles.

To the fishes already noticed, we have to add a few observations on a fish termed skipper, which is met with in the warmer latitudes in great abundance, and which also visits our shores in the month of June, sometimes appearing in vast shoals, of which several instances are on record. The skipper, or saury pike (Scomberesox saurus) is eminently gregarious, herding in shoals of thousands, perpetually exposed to the ravages of their foes, of which dolphins, bonitos, and tunnies are among the most harassing. The velocity and activity of the skipper are amazingly great: when a shoal of these fishes (often amounting to twenty thousand) is pursued by an army of dolphins, the congregated multitude spring out of the water, crowded together in singular confusion; then falling into their native element, they all rush along the surface for more than a hundred yards, without once dipping, beneath, and scarcely seeming to touch the water; they then rise again, and again falling, continue their arrow-like course. In the mean time, their enemies are close in their track, and leap as they leap, if possible, across the line of their progress, in order to have the better chance. In this manner, the one party intent upon their prey, the other straining to escape, the mingled crowd sweep along, rise, and sweep along, appearing lost, and re-appearing, till they all vanish in the distance. If, however, the skipper is thus harassed by the larger fishes of the ocean, it harasses others in turn, and thus is the balance maintained.

The skipper is closely related to our well-known gar fish, (Belone.) Its length is from one to two feet, the jaws are narrow and elongated; the form is long, slender, and compressed. The head and back are of a fine rich dark blue, becoming paler, and assuming a greenish tint on the sides; the under surface is silvery white.

There is a remarkable genus of fishes related to Scomberesor, termed by Cuvier Hemiramphus, from the peculiar construction of the snout; the upper jaw is short, and is furnished with small teeth; but the lower jaw, also furnished with teeth, has its anterior point or angle prolonged into an acute beak-like projection, destitute of teeth. The French term these fish demi-becs, or half-beaks, in allusion