MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 103 



The strychnine tree sheds its leaves like most other trees, and there appears 

 to be no doubt about the fact. The time, however, depends upon climatic in- 

 fluence. In Western India this usually happens towards the end of the cold 

 season, when the tree begins to get new leaves. In Burma, according to Kurz 

 it sheds its leaves in the hot season, and it appears to do so, though the hot 

 season would seem to be a curious time to do such a thing. The hot season in 

 Burma is not so trying as with us, and always includes nearly a half of what 

 is commonly known as the cold season on this side of India. Besides, it should 

 be borne in mind that the process of shedding the leaves, which begins towards 

 the end of the cold season, is not always finished till the hot season has actually 

 begun, or in some cases till it is in full swing. In a country where the women 

 do all the outdoor work and attend to business in almost all its departments 

 while the men stay at home to mind the baby, it is not at all strange for the 

 strychnine tree to shed its leaves even in the hot season. 



Roxburg was the first to remark that the pulp of the fruit seemed innocent 

 and was eaten by many birds. According to Hugh Cleghorn's " Forests and 

 Gardens of Southern India," the fruit is eaten by the horn-bill, Buceros 

 malabaricus. Sir George Birdwood, in the " Vegetable Products of Bombay," 

 says, " The fruit is commonly eaten in the Konkan for the sake of the pulp 

 enclosing its deadly seeds." Beddome, in the " Flora Sylvatica " of Madras 

 remarks that, " the pulp of the fruit is quite harmless and the favourite food 

 of many birds." In the Bombay Gazetteer, for North Kanara, it is stated that 

 " the pulp is harmless and is eaten by horn-bills, crows, monkeys, and even by 

 cattle." Ainslie, however, has rightly observed that the pulp is poisonous and 

 his opinion has been confirmed by Fliickiger and Hanbury. The experiments 

 made by Fliickiger and Hanbury gave abundant evidence of the presence of 

 poisonous alkaloids in the fresh as well as the inspissated juice of the ripe fruit 

 It is to be regretted that almost all the botanical observers have not mentioned 

 the specific names of the various birds and monkeys they say they have seen 

 eating the fruit. The only bird that has been seen eating the fruit voraciously is 

 the Malabar Pied Horn-bill, Hydrocissa coronata. Cleghorn's Buceros mala- 

 baricus is the same as this bird. Jerdon says the Malabar Pied Horn- 

 bill is very fond of the fruit of the kuchla, Strychnos Nux-vomica. 

 The ring-necked parrakeets, Psittacus torquatus, do sometimes peck at 

 the fruit, and drop it in large numbers, as it were out of mere wan- 

 tonness, or perhaps in search for a tolerably good fruit. Crows are 

 occasionally seen chasing the horn-bill on the tree, and this circumstance may 

 have led some persons to believe that the crows go there to eat the fruit, an 

 assertion which requires verification. The flying-fox, Pteropus medius, appears 

 to be fond of the fruit, but it seems to eat only the outer rind, and throws 

 down the broken fruit as if it did not like it very much. Among monkeys 

 the only creature that is extremely fond of the fruit is the dark-faced monkey 

 Semnopithecus entellus, the Langur or Hanuman of "Western India. Any man 

 who has spent a day or two, especially the early mornings and evenings, in the 



