5*7 



poison bush indicates at the least a linn belief in the presumably 

 acquired immunity or freedom of those sheep from the effects 

 ordinarily produced by it on animals. That the immunity of the 

 mascots must have been acquired seems to be supported by the in- 

 teresting fact that some of the poisons are effective against such 

 loxvlv animal organisms as that of scab. Mr. C. S. Brockman says: 

 14 The rock poison has been used as a dip for scab, and proved very 

 effective." 



PALM POISON. 



The Macrozamia Fniscri, sometimes also called Euccphalartos 

 Frtiscri, and incorrectly spoken of as zamia is a native plant having 

 much of the aspect of a palm or of a tree fern. It belongs, however, 

 to the natural order CycaJacac, which has relationship with the 

 Conifcrae or pine tree family, both having their flowers arranged in 

 cones, and their seeds naked instead of being enclosed in a seed 

 vessel. Other members of the same family, belonging to the genera 

 Mi^!\<:iiiiiiii or Encephalartos, Cvcus and Bowenia, are natives of 

 Queensland and New South Wales, but the species found there are 

 different from the West Australian plant, though possessing similar 

 noxious properties. 



The macrozamia is a palm-like plant having a thick stem 

 globose underground, and growing in time to a considerable height, 

 erect and cylindrical, bearing at its summit a crown of thick and 

 leathery pinnate leaves, which, as they become old, bend down- 

 wards and drop off, leaving scars on the surface of the stem. The 

 seeds are in the form of hard nuts, produced in cones that spring 

 up at the base of the leaves, and, like the stem of the plant itself, are 

 very tenacious of life. The plant has long been known to possess 

 deleterious properties, due partly to indigestibility, but more from 

 the poisonous constituents that bring on in the animals feeding on 

 them a series of symptoms ending in partial paralysis of their hind 

 quarters. The disease is known by the names "rickets" and 

 "wobbles," from the "wobbling" character of the gait of the 

 animal affected by it. In New South Wales and Queensland the 

 same complaint affects stock, and has been found to be due to their 

 feeding on the cycadaceous plants native to those parts. 



Mr. H. H. Edwards, Government Veterinary Surgeon, has made 

 experiments with this plant proving conclusively that it is poisonous 

 to animals fed on it. As described by him in his paper on the sub- 

 ject,* a yearling calf was fed with 61bs. of chaffed macrozamia leaves 

 each day, and symptoms of poisoning made their appearance on the 

 seventh day. On the eighth, or second day of poisoning, blood 

 appeared in the urine, but this symptom usually passes off again, 

 seldom lasting longer than twenty-four hours. Between the third 

 and ninth day walking becomes more difficult, the beast wobbles 



* Report of the Government Veterinary Surgeon, Mr. H. H. Edwards, on the 

 disease known as " Rickets " or " Wobbles " (Journal of the Bureau of Agriculture 

 of Western Australia, 1894, I., 225-234). 



