Arrow-Poison.—

Living specimens of the plants which are used in making the arrow-poison of the New Hebrides were procured by Mr. Braithwaite, of the mission ship Day Spring," and conveyed to the Sydney Botanic Garden. At the instance of Fleet Surgeon A. B. Messer, examples were transmitted to Kew for identification (Kew Report for 1877, p. 42). They did not arrive, however, in a condition very suitable for determination,—indeed, dried specimens would have been more useful,—and upon two only can an opinion be pronounced with any certainty. That called Natoto is undoubtedly Excæcaria Agallocha, as had been previously made out by the Rev. Thos. Powell. Another sent without a name is Vitis acuminata, which is certainly innocuous. This is probably the plant called in Montague Island Na mamakaru, and in Sandwich Island Namkatikut. It is the only arrow - poison plant which could be described as a creeper, and the juice expressed from the cooked leaves is mixed with the other ingredients of the mixture used for coating the arrows.