FiTCHETT. — Physiological Action of Tutin. 291 



countr}' ill the early spring, when the too tempting and especially toxic 

 young sprouts are appearing. If sheep are to be turned out where tutu 

 abounds they are first fed freely on English grass, for a well-fed sheep only 

 nibbles tutu as he happens to meet it. and escapes ; while a hungry sheep, 

 finding it difficult to resist so ready a means of appeasing its appetite, fills 

 its stomach, and succumbs. Indeed, it is a constant observation of farmers 

 that tutu introduced into an empty stomach is more lethal than when taken 

 into a stomach that already contains food. Cross-breds are said to be less 

 readily affected than the more active and restless merino, and are therefore 

 selected for distribution to tutu-infested areas. 



But, in spite of these precautions, accidents, through the ignorance of a 

 shepherd, or the chance of an open gate, occasionally happen, and a heavy 

 loss is experienced, as witness the following instance reported in 1905 : 

 " A settler left sixty bullocks about four years old in a field of swedes. In 

 his absence thev escaped from the paddock into a gully full of tutu {C rusci- 

 folia), where, on his return, he found forty-three of them dead. Mr. Clayton 

 found the rumen packed with tutu leaves and branchlets " (14). 



2. Botany. 



The tutu plant belongs to the natural order Coriariece, a small order 

 of very doubtful relationship possessing but a single genus, Coriaria. The 

 genus includes some eight or ten species, and has a rather remarkable dis- 

 tribution, species being met with in south Europe, South America, China, 

 Japan, north Africa, India (Himalayas), and New Zealand. 



The European species, C. niyrtifolia, is well known to possess toxic pro- 

 perties. Its leaves have been used to adulterate senna with fatal effect, 

 and numbers of cases of death are recorded from eating the berries. In. 

 1862 several persons were said to be poisoned by eating snails that had been 

 fattened on its leaves and young shoots (15). The symptoms of poisoning- 

 include vomiting and convulsions, and, on the Avhole, closely resemble those 

 of tutu poisoning. In 1863 Riban (15) investigated the chemistry of this 

 species, and separated a glucoside which he named " coriamyrtin." The 

 physiological properties of this compound will be referred to later. 



The Himalayan species, C. nepalensis, is stated to be non-toxic, but, as 

 the same has been said both of tutu and of C. myrtijolia, the statement must 

 be accepted with reserve. The fruit is said to be eaten with impunity. 



The American species, C. thymijoUa. and the New Zealand species are 

 said to be identical, and this statement has been used to prove a former 

 land-connection between the two countries. It is more Likely, however, 

 that the order is a very ancient one, which has died out everywhere except 

 in those places in which it is now found (8). Moreover, the identity of the 

 two has been questioned. 



The species met with in New Zealand are given by Cheeseman (16) as 

 three in number — (1) C. ruscifolia, (2) C. fhymifolia, (3) C. angustissima. 

 The first is known locally as the " tl-ee-toot," the second as the " ground- 

 toot," and to both the name " tutu " applies. The Maoris have no name for 

 G. angustissima. 



There seems to be some division of opinion as to whether these three 

 really constitute separate naturally distinct species, or whether the two last 

 are merelv varieties of the first. Lauder Lindsav, who in 1868 described, 

 though with hesitation, four species — (1) C. arhorca, (2) C. tutu, (3) C. thymi- 

 joUa, (4) C. angustissima — says, " If only typical species be examined the 



