30 MEMOTES OF THE QUEEN INLAND Mi'SEVM. 



Oedek ANACARDIACE^. 



PLEIOGYNIUM SOLANDRI, Engler. 



This plant is known at the Proserpine as the " Burdekin Plum," and is 

 referred to as one of the lesser important fish-poisons of the district. The inner 

 layer of the bark is used, being scraped off, pounded, and put into a bag or net, 

 which is thrown into the pool. 



Except in considerable concentration, when the material would appear to 

 function as a temporary stupefacient, no physiological effect was obtained in 

 test experiments. The bark is tannin-free. 



Order LEGUMINOS^. 



(^ DERRIS ULIGINOSA, Benth. 



'' BUGGERA-BUGGERA," Ingham, N.Q. 



" PUCKERA," Halifax, N.Q. 



" MURRI " (MURI), Rockingham Bay, N.Q. 



'' BAGGARA," Dunk Island, N.Q. 



" URUM," O'Connell River, N.Q. 



This vine constitutes one of the most effective and rapid fish-poisons. On 

 the O'Connell River the plant is disintegrated, placed in nets, and infused 

 into the water of small lagoons. 



Inspector Sweetman, of Townsville, supplies the following information 

 concerning its use in the Ingham district : — ' ' The vine is cut up into two-feet 

 lengths, sticks of about a finger's thickness being preferred. They are beaten 

 and bruised and handfuls thereof taken and thrown into the water, where they 

 are again beaten and worked about. Fish quickly stupefy and, rising to the 

 surface, are easily caught or speared.-^ The method is only practicable in 



*i Spearing was mostly accomplished by " Muttock," a foiir-pronged spear about eight 

 feet long. These prongs were made of hardwood from eighteen inches to two feet long, about a 

 quarter of an inch in diameter at the thick end and gradually tapered off to the point. These 

 would be fitted into a dry but strong and firm grass-tree which was usually grown straight, but 

 if it happened to b(? a little otit of plumb the blackfellow wotJd wet it well, and after it had soaked 

 a bit into the wood he would hold it over the hot ashes imtil it steamed, and would place it side- 

 ways in his mouth, hold it across his teeth, and with a hand on each side lever the stick ; this 

 he would repeat several times iintil he got it straight. That performance over, he would take 

 the stalk of the leaf of the cabbage -tree palm, split away the outer portion which he would retain, 

 and with the aid of a stone shell, or his nails, if he could not get a knife or a bit of glass, pare 

 it down imtil he secured the proper consistency, and as the grain rims straight, the width, generally 

 about a quarter of an inch, would easily be obtained. Tliis he would bind tightly aromid each 

 end of the grass-tree for about one or two inches to prevent it splitting, and seal it over with 

 grass-tree resin made into a giun-cement. He would then get a piece of hardwood, not so wide 

 as his grass-tree and about six inches long, fit it in the ground, then sit down holding the stick 

 between his feet, then reverse the grass-tree on to the point of the stick, give a few twirls, rotatory, 

 and quickly make a hole large and deep enough to hold the prongs. Each prong would then be 

 heated and rubbed over with the gum, and then the whole four would be fixed up, the points 

 being kept about two or three inches apart with small pieces of wood, then bind all together 

 with the cabbage-tree tape. Each prong would be fitted with a strong, sharp, bone point. 

 {T. Jllidge.) 



