150 APPENDIX, 
Valithe-pundu. An alcoholic extract of the plant had a strong 
odour of benbane, and contained a soft resin, a tannin, and an 
alkaloid, the latter being the active principle. (D.H.) 
Crotalaria retusa, Linn. Bot. Mag., t. 2561; Rheede, Hort. Mail. fey 020. 
Greshoff (Med, uit, S’lands Plant, vii., p. 31) has shown that the 
leaves of this common plant, the Bil-jhanjhan of Bengal, the Ghégri 
of Bombay, and Potu-galli-gista of Southern India, contain a con- 
siderable quantity of indican ; and that the seeds contain an alkaloid 
which is a strong poison, and is probably closely related to the poison- 
ous alkaloids of Cytisus, Ulex, Spartium, and Lupinus. 
The same base was found in larger quantity in the seeds of 
C. striata, DC. Bot. Mag., t. 3200; Reich, Icon, Exot., t. 232. 
Millettia atropurpurea, Bent. Wall. Pl. As. Rar., t. 78. 
Greshoff (Med. wit. S’lands Plant., vii., p. 33) has shown that the 
seeds contain a glucoside similar to, if not identical with, saponin, 
The plant is employed as a fish poison in the Dutch East Indies ; 
it is also a native of Martaban, Tenasserim, Malacca, and Penan g. 
Pithecolobium bigeminum, Mart, 
According to Greshoff, the bark contains 0-8 per cent. of a non- 
volatile, amorphous alkaloid, which forms crystalline salts, and 
separates as a heavy, yellow oil on the addition of alkalies to solu- 
tions of the latter, With 1C0 parts of water, it forms a | turbid 
mes clear on the addition of an acid. The solutions have a 
burning taste, and give the usual alkaloid reactions, It has a strong 
corrosive action on the skin, and is fatal to fish in a dilution of 
1: 400,000. ‘The same compound appears also to occur in P. Saman, 
Benth. (Meded. wit Slands Plant., vii., p. 38.) 
Derris elliptica, Benth. Wight, Ic. t, 420. 
The roots of this handsome climbing shrub, according to the 
Kew Report of 1877, afford a useful insecticide for agricultural 
purposes, and are also used to kill fish. The Malays are said to use 
the bark as one of the ingredients of their arrow poison. 
