76 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
pot, and the wool rises and comes oat at the top, and is carried 
away by the least breath of wind. The seeds are then put into a 
small mortar and pounded into a paste, which is then ready for use. 
It is common to mix the milky juice of a Euphorbia with it to make 
it stick to the arrow.” 
This arrow poison has also been found at the western side of 
Africa, where it is known as the “ Inee ” or “ Onage,” and the 
poison has been traced to a Strophanthus, which is probably the 
species liispidus , although the flowers do not appear to have been 
yet obtained. 
Only a few poisoned arrows have reached this country from 
Africa, owing, no doubt to some extent, to the difficulties of car- 
riage, but certainly much more to the reluctance of the natives to 
place poisoned arrows in the possession of Europeans. The author 
had, however, been able to examine arrows of eight different forms 
obtained from various parts of Africa. Two of them were arrows 
known to be poisoned with Strophanthus. Of the others, either no 
knowledge of the poison existed, or it was believed to be derived 
from plants other than Strophanthus. 
Microscopical, chemical, and physiological examination showed 
that the poison of six of the eight arrows consists principally, if not 
entirely, of a substance made with the seeds of Strophanthus ; and 
it is an illustration of the extensive use of this poison that these 
arrows should have been obtained from districts so widely separated 
from each other as the river Gambir, the Tanganyika lake, and the 
Zambesi river. 
Of the other two arrows, one, originally poisoned on the arrow- 
head, was found to be inert ; and the other, obtained in the Wanika 
country, was found to be poisoned with a substance acting like 
Strophanthus, but not giving its chemical reactions, nor exhibiting, 
on microscopic examination, any structure that could be identified 
with the structures in the seeds of Strophanthus. It is probable that 
the poison of the last arrow has been derived from a wood or root. 
Decandolle, in 1802, first described the genus Strophanthus, and 
gave it this name because of the twisted, thong-like prolongations 
of the lobes of the corolla (o-rpo<£os, a cord, and avOog, a flower). 
About twenty species are at present known, eight of which are found 
in Africa, and the others in India China, Malacca, and Burmah. 
