INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
77 3 
my recent visit to Brittany, where I spent nearly two months, 
I made the acquaintance of a highly cultured veterinary 
surgeon, M. Barrier, Chief of the Army Establishment, 
known as the Depot cle Remonte cle Guingamp, Cotes du 
Nord. M. Barrier (whose son is Professor of Natural 
History at the Veterinary School of Toulouse) brought under 
my notice a remarkable instance of alleged cattle poisoning 
by cowbane ( Cicuta virosa ).* This, he said, occurred last 
September at Carhaix, Finistere, near the Black Mountains.! 
At Guingamp, on the banks of the river Trieux and its 
tributaries, I noticed everywhere an extraordinary abundance 
of (Enanthe crocata, and in adjacent localities I found 
plenty of the true hemlock ( Conium maculatum). Making 
my way, three weeks later, to the hill country, I stopped for 
a fortnight at the small town of St. Nicolas du Pelem. 
Here, again, on the banks of the Blavet and other streams 
there was a profuse abundance of the common dropwort 
((Enanthe crocata ) ; yet, although I encountered six other 
species of Umbellifer, I looked in vain for Cicuta. On one 
occasion, in this neighbourhood, I saw a cow demolish a 
small plant of dropwort, and on making inquiries I learned 
that a local proprietor had lost about thirty animals from 
this cause during the last few years. The people were, 
however, quite uncertain as to the particular species which 
poisoned the animals. Having shown Mons. Pommeroy, 
one of my informants, the plant which I believed to be at 
fault, he, at my request, repeated his statements briefly in 
writing. These are his words:—M. de Lescurn, Pro¬ 
prietor at, and Mayor of St. Trephine, living in a chateau 
on the border of the river Blavet, has lost there in the last 
four or five years thirty cows which had eaten of the herb 
of which you speak. 55 Shortly afterwards I proceeded to 
Carhaix, where I hoped, not only to find the true cowbane, 
but to gather further particulars respecting the poisoning 
cases mentioned by Mons. Barrier. In the latter desire I 
was not disappointed; yet here, again, on the borders of 
another river, the Aven, I searched in vain for Cicuta virosa. 
Mons. Barrier had led me to understand that only thirteen 
animals had partaken of this plant, and of these no less 
than eleven perished. At Carhaix itself I heard a very 
# M. Barrier also read me a letter from his son, in which an avian epi- 
zooty, affecting pigeons, was described as due to Ascaris maculosa , and I 
explained to M. Barrier that I had already described a similar outbreak in 
England some years back (‘Zoological Society’s Proceedings,’ 1873).— 
T. S. C. 
f Here the lecturer pointed to a large map of Europe, specially indi¬ 
cating the positions of Guingamp, Carhaix, and St. Nicholas, in Brittany. 
