THE GENUINE UPAS-TREE 207 



characteristic of one of the trees of the jungle. Tall and 

 graceful, with luxuriant glossy leaves, there is nothing 

 uncanny about the .tree. In style and appearance it is the 

 very antithesis of " the upas-tree," upon which legendary 

 lore cast unmerited responsibility. Yet in certain respects 

 it would be vain to enter upon its defence. It is no myth. 

 There is no exaggeration in the statement that the character 

 of the Queensland tree is actually murderous, and that it 

 counts its victims by the thousand every season. Of the 

 great host it destroys, all save a few may be very small and 

 very feeble, and from the human standpoint some of its 

 death-dealing is perfectly justifiable if not laudable. Not 

 often, locally, is a bird destroyed, but the fact that occasion- 

 ally one has the ill-luck to fall foul of it and to perish miser- 

 ably in consequence, places the tree in the catalogue of the 

 remarkable. Neither spike nor poison is used nor any 

 sensational means of destruction, but nevertheless the tree 

 is sure and implacable in its methods. 



The seed-vessels of the Queensland Upas-tree, " Ahm- 

 moo" of the blacks {Pisonia brunoniand), which are pro- 

 duced on spreading leafless panicles, exude a remarkably 

 viscid substance, approaching bird-lime in consistency and 

 evil efifect. Sad is the fate of any bird which, blundering 

 in its flight, happens to strike against any of the many 

 traps which the tree in unconscious malignity hangs out on 

 every side. In such event the seed clings to the feathers, 

 the wings become fixed to the sides, the hapless bird falls 

 to the ground, and as it struggles heedlessly gathers more 

 of the seeds, to which leaves and twigs adhere, until 

 by aggregation it is enclosed in a mass of vegetable debris 

 as firmly as a mummy in its cloths. Small birds as well as 

 lusty pigeons, spiders and all manner of insects ; flies, bees, 

 beetles, moths and mosquitoes, as well as the seeds of 

 other trees are ensnared. Spiders are frequently seen 

 sharing the fate of the flies, fast to seeds in the humiliating 

 posture in which Br'er Fox found Br'er Rabbit on the 

 occasion of the interview with the Tar Baby. 



Insectivorous plants are common enough in Australia ; 



