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prolonged soaking they break into several pieces in unrolling. 

 Their shape is evidently between cordate-orbicular and reniform. 

 The testa is thin, yellowish, membranaceous, only slightly ad- »j 



herent, and marked by a slender but distinct rhaphe. The em- 

 bryo is decidedly oleaginous, leaving an oily mark when crushed 

 on paper, and, to my taste, is distinctly bitter, though not ex- 

 tremely so. The albumen, ( '' perisperm " of Nuttall), when 

 present, forms a slender, more or less irregular plug, inserted in 

 the top of the seed opposite the radicle. 



The pods are evidently borne, as a rule at least, on two- 

 (rarely four-) leaved stems, these leaves making the stems 

 branches, instead of peduncles, and the inflorescence, strictly 

 speaking, terminal instead of axillary. The pods persist through 

 the winter, and are finally worn or torn off by wind and weather, 

 like the fruit of Platanus, It is a curious fact that they are sub- 

 ject to the attacks of birds, several of those examined having 

 large holes pecked in the side. The persistence of the peculiar 

 and pleasant odor of the plant is also noteworthy, even the per- 

 fectly dry fruit being strongly aromatic when crushed. 



The pods above described were ^nt me last November by 

 Mr. J. H. H. Boyd, postmaster at Cagle, Tenn. In an accom- 

 panying letter Mr. Boyd made the following remarkable statement : 



Hundreds of cattle and sheep have died here in the past five 

 years from '*bubby" [the eccentric local name of the shrub]. 

 The seeds only are poisonous. When a brute gets a sufficient 

 dose, from five to ten well filled pods, it makes for the nearest 

 water and often falls dead while drinking, or it may live three or 

 four weeks and then die. The symptoms are like those of a man 

 extremely drunk, except that any noise frightens it Stamp the 

 ground hard, close to a brute poisoned with '*bubby/* and it will 

 jump and jerk and tremble for several minutes That Is our 

 method of telling when they have taken it. The eyes turn white 

 and glassy, and while lying they throw back the head and look 

 as if dead already. ** Bubby '' does not seem to hurt a brute so 

 much if it cannot get water. Our best remedy is apple brandy, 

 strong coffee and raw eggs poured down as soon as possible after 

 finding. It is certain that " bubby '' is the most poisonous of 

 any shrub or weed in existence here, from the fact that when 

 brutes have once eaten it, they will take it every time they can 

 get it It grows on every hillside, along all branches [creeks], 

 in every fence corner and almost everywhere here. 



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