diff --git a/jnius/jnius_conversion.pxi b/jnius/jnius_conversion.pxi
index 7056f6b..fe1f9c5 100644
--- a/jnius/jnius_conversion.pxi
+++ b/jnius/jnius_conversion.pxi
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ cdef void release_args(JNIEnv *j_env, tuple definition_args, bint pass_by_refere
                     jstringy_arg(argtype):
                 j_env[0].DeleteLocalRef(j_env, j_args[index].l)
         elif argtype[0] == '[':
-            # if getattr(py_arg, '_JNIUS_PASS_BY_REFERENCE', True):
             if pass_by_reference:
                 ret = convert_jarray_to_python(j_env, argtype[1:], j_args[index].l)
                 try:
@@ -587,12 +586,6 @@ cdef jobject convert_pyarray_to_java(JNIEnv *j_env, definition, pyarray) except
             a_bytes = pyarray
             j_env[0].SetByteArrayRegion(j_env,
                 ret, 0, array_size, <const_jbyte *>a_bytes._buf)
-            ## this makes ByteArrays slow
-            # for i in range(array_size):
-            #     c_tmp = pyarray[i]
-            #     j_byte = <signed char>c_tmp
-            #     j_env[0].SetByteArrayRegion(j_env,
-            #             ret, i, 1, &j_byte)
         elif isinstance(pyarray, (bytearray, bytes)):
             j_bytes = <signed char *>pyarray
             j_env[0].SetByteArrayRegion(j_env,
diff --git a/jnius/jnius_nativetypes3.pxi b/jnius/jnius_nativetypes3.pxi
index 09c8e8b..69d2659 100644
--- a/jnius/jnius_nativetypes3.pxi
+++ b/jnius/jnius_nativetypes3.pxi
@@ -18,13 +18,11 @@ cdef class ByteArray:
     cdef long _size
     cdef unsigned char *_buf
     cdef unsigned char[:] _arr
-    cdef public bint _JNIUS_PASS_BY_REFERENCE
 
     def __cinit__(self):
         self._size = 0
         self._buf = NULL
         self._arr = None
-        self._JNIUS_PASS_BY_REFERENCE = True
 
     def __dealloc__(self):
         cdef JNIEnv *j_env
@@ -66,28 +64,6 @@ cdef class ByteArray:
             xx = index
             return self._arr[xx]
 
-    def __setitem__(self, index, val):
-        cdef long xx
-        cdef int x
-        cdef unsigned char *vals
-        cdef long start
-        cdef long stop
-        cdef long step
-        if isinstance(index, slice):
-            vals = val
-            if self._size:
-                (start, stop, step) = index.indices(self._size)
-                # the following is faster than `range(start, stop, step)`
-                for x in range(((step - 1) + stop - start) // step):
-                    xx = x
-                    self._arr[start + xx * step] = vals[xx]
-        else:
-            xx = index
-            self._arr[xx] = val
-
-    def pass_by_reference(self, pref):
-        self._JNIUS_PASS_BY_REFERENCE = pref
-
     def __richcmp__(self, other, op):
         cdef ByteArray b_other
         if isinstance(other, (list, tuple)):