THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 6& 



Rivers, another plant, which grew very sparingly in the neighbour- 

 hood, was pointed out to me by Mr. E. J. Harris as one sup- 

 posed to be poisonous to horses. A small sample of this since 

 forwarded to me by Mr. Harris was submitted to Mr. Luehmann, 

 who kindly informed me its name was probably Euphorbia 

 serrulata, but the specimen was too much broken to identify 

 with certainty. It sprang up soon after the tropical rains fell in 

 January, and in three weeks was 12 inches high. Within a few 

 days of obtaining my specimens I heard of the deaths of a 

 number of horses. One animal, the property of Mr. Scott, a 

 gentleman to whom I am indebted for many kindnesses during 

 my stay in his neighbourhood, was frisking about like a colt, and 

 her six weeks' old foal was the picture of health. Next day she 

 was seen standing slill with her liead drooping, and the following 

 morning she was dead. A difference of opinion prevails amongst 

 the stockowners in the neighbourhood as to whether the animals 

 die from eating a poisonous weed or not. But it may be within 

 the recollection of some of our members that when the rush to 

 the Kimberley goldfields took place about 12 years ago many 

 of the diggers' horses died whilst travelling from Derby to the 

 diggings at Hall's Creek. One party which left the Port with 

 eight packhorses had only one alive when they reached their 

 destination. The mortality amongst these horses was attributed 

 to " Kimberley disease," but as they had to find their own food 

 along a track where at least two species of P>uphorbia flourish, 

 others are inclined to blame the plants for the trouble, as the 

 deaths generally took place during the first three months of 

 the year. 



In the latter part of February, 1897, one of our camels became 

 sick and continued so for some weeks, but recovered when taken 

 back to the desert on the final rescue search. This animal had 

 been grazing over the same ground as Mr. Scott's horses for 

 several months, and only became affected when the Euphorbia 

 was flourishing. 



Since my return to Melbourne I wrote to the editor of The 

 Leader asking whether any of the species of Euphorbia were 

 poisonous to stock, and if so what was the best remedy to use. 

 His reply was as follows : — " The many species of Euphorbia are 

 acrid and poisonous. These properties reside in the milky juice 

 which exists in the plants. The milky juice consists of a resin, 

 euphorbin (which exists in the proportion of about 60 per cent., 

 and is the active principle), wax, caoutchouc, and various salts. 

 The seeds also contain an irritant oil. The plants are narcoto- 

 irritant. Animals that feed on the plant die of gastro-enteritis. 

 The treatment for poisoned horses consists in giving large doses 

 of linseed oil to clear out the bowels, and then giving free 

 libations of barley water, and injecting 30 drops of strong solution 



