8 MEMOISS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



Order MENISPERMACE.E. 



STEPHANIA HERNANDIffiFOLIA, Walp. 



''NJ ANNUM," Ncrang, Q;. 



The only record of the use of Stephania hernandicefoUa as a fish-poison 

 is made by J. Shirlej^/^ in the Nerang district. Of other members of the Order, 

 Anamirta paniculata, Colebr., is a fish-poison in India (Watt. GresJioff)'^^ ; and 

 A. coccuhis, Wight, Arn. (usually regarded as a synonym), constitutes perhaps 

 the most used material for the purpose in Malaysia." 



In test experiments, infusions of S. JiernandiafoUa were found to be 

 certain but comparatively slow in action ; there is absence of the excitation 

 produced with Derris, Tephrosia, and the saponin-containing Cupania and 

 (Jareya. Furthermore, fish exhibit a tendency to remain in depths till death 

 overtakes them; a condition not, it is supposed, tending to ready capture. 



Kennie and Turner^^ have separated picrotoxin from Stfphania, and 

 Bancroft" found it to be rich in alkaloid. Separation of the alkaloid and of a 

 supposed picrotoxin fraction, following the procedure of Rennie and Turner, 

 showed the former to be rather slowly toxic at concentration 1 : 50,000 ; with the 

 latter no physiological effect was observed. The alkaloid is probably the chief 

 active constituent of the poison, and to alkaloids are ascribed the effectivity of 

 the Cameroon fish-poisons,^^ Stryclmos aculeata and others. 



Order OUTTIFER^. 



GARCINIA CHERRYI, Bail. 



G. cherryi is recorded by Roth^'^ as a Queensland aboriginal fish-poison, 

 and samples have been obtained by us through the courtesy of D. J. Mocatta, 

 of Atherton. 



Our experimental results show a high efficiency and rapidity in use. 

 the bark being more potent than the leaves. The plant is highly sapotoxic; 

 aqueous infusions show extreme frothing power, and the watery extract of the 

 bark slowly ha?molyses blood corpuscles at a dilution of 1 : 50,000.^^ A lesser 

 saponin content is indicated for the leaves. 



^ 12 J. Shirley, A Fish-poison of the Aborigines, Proc. Roy. Soc. Q., vol. ii., pt. ii., 1896, 

 p. 89-91. 



^ 1* M. Greshoff, Beschrijving der giftige en bedwelmende planten bij de vischvanget in 

 gebrnik (Batavia 1900). 



''i*Tenison -Woods, Rev. J. E., Fisheries of the Oriental Region, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 

 vol. iii., 1888. 



'}\C'-. 15 Rennie, E. H., & E. F. Turner, On the Poisonous Constituents of Stephania Iiernandice- 

 folia, Walp., Trans. & Proc. Roy. Soc. Sth. Aust., vol. 17, 1892-3. 



TvC. 16 Thos. L. Bancroft, Preliminary Notes on the Pharmacologj^ of some new Poisonous 

 Plants, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. iv., 2nd series, 1889. 



-^ " E. Fickendey, Zeit. Angew. Chem., vol. 23, p. 2166-7, Chem. Abstracts, vol. 5, 1911, 

 p. 2901. 



f " Roth, W. E., Food, its Search, Capture, and Preparation, North Queensland Ethno- 

 graphy, Bull. No. 3, 1901, p. 19. 



1' In the statement of haemolytic power, the figures 1: 5,000, for instance, mean that 

 blood corpuscles are hsemolysed in suspension in a, liquid infusion of plant material diluted <a 

 that strength. Thus the result reported is observed on addition of -5 c.c. of 1 in 500 infusion 

 to 4-5 c.c. of 1 per cent, suspension of corpuscles. 



