POISONOUS HONEY. 29 



Black Sea, and other parts of the world, do not grow here, nor 

 have we the poison-ash (Rhus vernix), which, in America, has 

 sometimes occasioned the death of whole swarms of bees, simply 

 from the circumstance of their having alighted on its branches. 

 (jicuta, Angelica, and Scandix do not nourish in the wilds of Aus- 

 tralia ; and, even supposing that they did, it is very doubtful 

 whether bees would collect honey from them, for it is a fact well 

 known to entomologists that bees neglect certain flowers on ac- 

 count of the poisonous quality of their honey. This is par- 

 ticularly the case with the crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) 

 and the oleander (Nerium Oleander), both of which are avoided 

 by bees, though it is believed thousands of flies perish from in- 

 cautiously partaking of the secretions of the latter. The natural 

 family Ericaceae, which contains the genera so injurious to honey, 

 is almost unrepresented in Australia, whilst the place is supplied 

 by the Epacridacece, a family of plants not possessing any noxious 

 qualities, but affording a rich supply of honey. This family, to- 

 gether with many species of myrtaceous and leguminous plants, 

 seems to be much in favour with bees, and therefore, excepting in 

 seasons of extreme scarcity from drought or other causes, I find 

 a difficulty in believing that any of the' bees, so wise and cautious 

 as they are known to be, would so far lose their natural instinct 

 as to gather honey from plants which are not merely injurious 

 to man, but probably destructive to the bees themselves There 

 is, indeed, one plant which has been introduced amongst us, and 

 is spreading very much in the cultivated parts of the colony, riz., 

 Datura stramonium, which is decidedly poisonous in its nature, 

 and moreover, it is placed by Dr. Barton amongst the plants 

 which in some parts of America are supposed to impart poison- 

 ous qualities to the honey. 



The remarkable case of poisoning from honey, to which Dr. 

 Bell has referred, is mentioned in the 4th book of Xenophon's 

 Anabasis, chapter 8, and I will quote the passage entire : " After 

 the Greeks had gained the ascent, they encamped in many villages 

 full of all sorts of provisions. Here they found nothing else 

 worthy of their admiration ; but there being great quantities of 

 beehives in those villages, all the soldiers who ate of the honey- 

 combs lost their senses, and were seized with a vomiting and 

 purging, none of them being able to stand upon their legs. Those 



