WILD AND TAME ANIMALS 



ground"; but this does not apparently happen to resident 

 cattle. Similarly for the Darling Pea or Indigo (Swainsonia 

 galegifolia). At one place this was growing abundantly 

 where some travelling horses were hobbled for the night. 

 " They had been on the road some nine weeks, and were up to 

 this date caught without any difficulty. On this occasion . . . 

 their eyes were staring out of their heads, and they were 

 prancing against trees and shrubs. . . , When driven they 

 would suddenly stop, turn round and round, and keep 

 throwing their heads up as if they had been hit under the 

 jaw. . . Two out of nine died, and five others had to be 

 left at the camp." ^ 



In other natural [orders we find one or two dangerous 

 plants amongst a whole series of perfectly harmless or useful 

 forms. The Oleander, in the Olive order. Corncockle 

 {Lychnis Jloscuculli), in the Pink order, Lactitca Scariola 

 amongst Composite^ and others are all cases in point. So 

 also is the Yew amongst ConifercB, etc. 



How do animals recognize these particular plants as being 

 dangerous whilst all their allies are harmless ? But the 

 reader will answer that they do not ; it is well known that 

 animals are killed by eating poisonous plants, therefore poison 

 cannot possibly be any protection against animals. 



This is one of those interesting questions in which the 

 suppression of apparently irrelevant details produces con- 

 fusion. 



As a matter of fact, wild animals, or even domesticated 

 animals in nearly a wild state, do Twt eat the poisonous 

 plants of the country in which they and their forefathers 

 have been brought up — that is provided that they are 

 either adult or are accompanied by full-grown animals. 



^ Plants Reputed Poisonous to Stock. Bailey & Gordon, Brisbane. 



237 



