346 Transactions. — Chemistry and Physics. 



were poisoned within a few days of landing.* The same news- 

 paper warns settlers of the danger of this plant to freshly 

 landed cattle. 



Lauder Lindsay, + who visited New Zealand in 1861-62, 

 in an interesting article entitled " The Toot Plant and Poison 

 of New Zealand," says, "I was everywhere struck by the 

 abundant evidences of the devastation produced amongst- 

 flocks and herds from their feeding on the toot plant. 

 In other words, he seemed a fortunate farmer or runholder 

 who had not lost more than 25 per cent, of his stock from 

 toot-poisoning, whilst in some instances the losses were so 

 high as 75 per cent." 



Other animals are also affected by the plant. An in- 

 teresting account of the poisoning, with death in seven hours,. 

 of an elephant belonging to a travelling menagerie is given 

 by Haast, the skeleton being now in the Colonial Museum,. 

 Wellington 4 



Birds are said to be unaffected by the seeds, but cases have 

 come under the notice of the authors in which domestic fowls- 

 have been poisoned by eating the berries, the symptoms being 

 typical of tutu-poisoning. 



The number of recorded cases in which human beings 

 have died from tutu-poisoning does not appear to be large. 

 The authors have endeavoured to collect details of these fatal 

 cases, and have in this connection issued a circular asking for 

 the experience of every medical man in the colony. The fol- 

 lowing cases are taken in part from the replies already to 

 hand : — 



1. At Wakapu, Bay of Islands, 1835-36, twelve French 

 sailors were poisoned ; four are said to have died.§ 



2. Thomson, " Story of New Zealand," 1859,' states that. 

 up till that date several children had died from eating the- 

 berries. 



3. Otago Colonist, 25th October, 1861, records the case of 

 two children being poisoned by the shoots ; one died. 



4. Otago Daily Times, 16th November, 1862 ; death of a. 

 young man from eating the shoots. 



5 H. C. Field || records the death of a girl in 1854-55 from* 

 eating tutu-berries. 



6. E. Cross|| lost a son from eating the berries in January,. 

 1860 ; symptoms very distressing. 



7. Mr. Giles, ex-Coroner at Westport and Auckland, || 



* Lyttelton Times, vol. i., No. 1, 11th Jan., 1851. 



t hoc. cit. 



t "The Student," Feb., 1869 ; and Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1869, p. 399. 



§ W. G. Mair, private communication ; also Lauder Lindsay, loc cit~ 



II Private communication. 



