30 FLOBA OF AUSTRALIA. 



who ate but little were like men very drunk, and those who ate 

 much, like madmen, and some like dying persons. In. this con- 

 dition, great numbers lay on the ground as if there had been a 

 defeat, and the sorrow was general. The next day, none of them 

 died, but recovered their senses about the same hour they were 

 seized ; and the third and fourth day they got up as if they had 

 taken physic." This is certainly an ancient case of poisoning, 

 but we are assured on the testimony of modern travellers, that 

 the poisonous effects of the honey on the southern shores of the 

 Black Sea still remain, and not many years since (viz., in 1834), 

 Keith E. Abbott, Esq., forwarded a specimen of the honey in 

 question from Trebizond to the Zoological Society, " which honey 

 was still found to retain its deleterious properties." The bad 

 effects of this honey are said by the Russian traveller, Pallas, to 

 arise from Azalea pontica. He says, " that the effects of the 

 Euxine honey are like those of Lolium temulentum, and occur in 

 a country where no Rhododendron grows. The natives are well 

 aware of the deleterious qualities of the plant, and it is related 

 that goats which browse on the leaves, before the pastures are 

 green, suffer in consequence, and moreover, that cattle and sheep 

 perish." In addition to the suspected genera of the heath family 

 (none of which , however, are indigenous here), there are some 

 other plants that both ancient and modern writers regard as 

 detrimental to honey. Virgil, who in the management of bees is 

 a great authority, sings of the Taxus as a tree to be avoided. 

 Whether the poet means yew or the box (Buxus sempervirens), is 

 a point not agreed upon amongst commentators, but in either 

 case I do not see that we have anything to fear from this source 

 in Australia, as there is no indigenous tree resembling them in 

 properties. The nearest approach to the yew is our Podocarpus ; 

 but the only species of that genus with which I am acquainted is 

 perfectly innocent, the berries being eatable, though somewhat 

 insipid. By modern botanists the leaves of the yew are said to 

 be poisonous to horses and cows, whilst Caesar assures us that 

 King Cativolus killed himself by the Taxus. The berries, how- 

 ever, are not poisonous, and turkeys, peacocks, and other poultry 

 and birds eat bbth the leaves and the fruit. A few of the berries 

 are not deleterious to the human species, but the leaves are fatal. 

 If by the Taxus, the box is intended, there can be no doubt re- 



