312 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
concretions; containing Stenopora crinita, Producta rugata, 
three species of Spirifer, Orthonota, n.s., Pleurotomaria, and 
Bellerophon, n.s., &c. The author expresses his belief that there 
are newer, as there are certainly older, beds in the vicinity than 
these last-mentioned sandstones. The author next described the 
cast and south-east of Tasmania; consisting of horizontal beds 
of sandstone, with subordinate beds of limestone and slate, of a 
thickness of 2,500 feet at least; abutting against, if not capped by, 
a mass of columnar greenstone, which rises 1,700 feet above the 
sandstones. The limestone contains fossils of palaeozoic forms; 
some of them specifically identical with those of Wollagong. 
Lastly, the author mentioned the occurrence of two patches of 
tertiary limestone, containing a Helix, a Bulimus, and leaves. 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, LONDON. 
Notice of a Poisonous Leguminous Plant from Swan River 
Australia* . By T. R. C. Walter, Esq. 
(From the Pharmaceutical Journal, January, 1847.) 
December 9, 1846.—The plant under notice, when at its full 
growth, attains to a height of three or four feet. It is usual for 
the natives to burn the pastures every two years, and this shrub 
is then burnt to the ground ; but it shoots up with the next rains, 
at which time it is very injurious to the farmer’s stock, its young 
and tender shoots being probably more tempting, and less easily 
distinguished, than those of the full-grown plant. The blossoms 
are also frequently eaten by animals, and are, I think, the most 
poisonous part; for the greatest number of sheep are lost from 
the poisonous effects of this plant at the period of its inflorescence. 
When the seeds fall on the ground, the wild pigeons greedily 
feed and fatten on them. If the crops of these pigeons, con¬ 
taining the seeds, be eaten by dogs, they die; yet the pigeons 
themselves, when dressed, are good food, and at that season are 
eaten in large numbers by the settlers. The flesh of sheep and 
cattle that have died from eating the plant is poisonous, if eaten 
Supposed to be a species of Gompholobium.—TLo. Tasm.Journ. 
