62 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



GENERAL BUSINESS. 



There being no other nomination, the chairman declared Mr. 

 J. T. Gillespie duly elected as hon, treasurer, in place of Mr. D. 

 Best, resigned. 



The chairman announced that the committee had framed two 

 regulations for the guidance of business at the monthly meetings, 

 which were to the effect that all natural history notes must be 

 handed to the hon. secretary at the commencement of the meeting, 

 and that no paper shall be commenced to be read after 9.15 p.m., 

 in order to allow more time for the conversazione, which latterly 

 had been much curtailed. 



PAPERS READ. 



1. By Mr. G. A. Keartland, entitled '* Some Poisonous Plants." 

 The author dealt principally with Euphorbia Drummondii and 



other allied plants and their effects on camels and horses in North 

 and Western Australia, and stated that in his opinion these plants 

 were undoubtedly fatal to stock in certain stages of their growth, 

 though whether or not through poison in their constituent parts 

 he could not say. 



The paper gave rise to considerable discussion. Mr, J, G. 

 Luehmann, F.L.S., said the experiments carried out with Euphorbia 

 Drummondii by the late Baron von Mueller had failed to produce 

 any ill effects on the animals experimented upon, and no alkaloid 

 had been obtained in the analysis. 



Mr. W. T Kendall, M.R.C.V.S., suggested that possibly the 

 deaths of the stock occurred through distension of the stomach, 

 owing to the animals gorging themselves with succulent food, a 

 disaster that similarly followed if animals got access to a wheat 

 field. 



The chairman thought, with reference to the late Baron's ex- 

 periments, that possibly the plants used, being grown in a moist 

 climate on rich soil, would lose in virility, and so militate 

 against the sure result of an experiment. 



Mr. J. Gabriel introduced Mr. G. Morton, in whose experience 

 in the Swan Hill district, where the plants grew abundantly, no 

 stock had been lost from eating them. 



Mr. O. A. Sayce suggested that specimens of the plants at 

 different stages of growth be obtained and analyzed, and thus 

 determine when the poisonous properties, if any, existed. 



Mr. Keartland, in reply, stated that some of the animals whose 

 death he recorded were only slightly swollen, and had not gorged 

 themselves. 



2. By Mr. R. Hall, entitled " Birds of the Box Hill District," 

 continued. 



The author dealt with the parrots and cuckoos in this part, 

 giving many interesting notes regarding the species mentioned. 



