March 22, 1986

The Reagan Administration today sharply limited the power of Federal agencies to consent to court decrees that settle lawsuits against the Government without litigation. To avoid costly and complex trials, the Government often settles suits by promising to take certain actions to carry out the law. The Government and the plaintiffs enter into an agreement that is approved by a Federal judge, and the judge's decree has the force of law and is enforceable by Federal courts. Discretion Sometimes Curbed Under guidelines issued today, it would be much more difficult for Federal agencies to enter into such consent decrees if they require new or revised regulations or the spending of money not yet appropriated by Congress.

Wall Street was expecting a wild session yesterday, and it wasn't disappointed. The Dow Jones industrial average, after closing above the 1,800 barrier for the first time on Thursday, yesterday suffered its fourth worst decline, falling 35.68 points, to 1,768.56. The 199.2 million shares that traded represented the fourth-heaviest volume in New York Stock Exchange history. The reason for the tumult was an occurrence known on Wall Street as a ''triple witching hour,'' when contracts for three types of trading instruments - stock index options, stock index futures and individual stock options -expire simultaneously. Occurs Four Times a Year This event, which occurs four times a year, is an opportunity for the big institutions that trade in those instruments - those with at least $5 million to invest - to profit from price discrepancies in those types of investments.

A leading drug company today ordered an immediate recall of capsules of Contac cold medicine and two other popular over-the-counter drugs after eight capsules were found with trace amounts of rat poison. The manufacturer, the SmithKline Beckman Corporation, said investigators in Houston and Orlando, Fla., had found traces of warfarin, an anticoagulant used in rat poison, in capsules of Contac, the allergy remedy Teldrin and the appetite suppressant Dietac. The amount of poison was too small to harm humans, the company said. Small Portion of Annual Sales Analysts said the corporation would face minimal financial problems even if capsule sales had to be halted for a long time because the affected products represent less than 3 percent of the company's annual sales. [ Page 8. ] The recall came after anonymous callers to the company and news organizations warned that cyanide and rat poison had been placed in packages of capsules manufactured by SmithKline, the Philadelphia drug maker. The company stressed that no cyanide had been found.

Spring is sprung, The grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies is. Anon. Whether to watch the wood warblers' migration to Long Island Sound or to view the arrival of red-winged blackbirds at Cape May, N.J., bird watchers these days are engaging in their own spring ritual. With the arrival of spring last Thursday, they are dusting off binoculars, purchasing the newest field guides and filling bird feeders. More ''birders'' than ever will be out in weeks to come. Some will simply use spring as a reason to emerge from winter hibernation. But for many others, notching another species in their logbooks or spotting the white ring around the eyes of the ruby-crowned kinglet is sheer joy.

A reputed Mafia boss and 14 men described as associates were named yesterday in a Federal indictment charging extensive labor racketeering, construction bid-rigging, extortion, gambling and murder conspiracies. The principal defendant, Anthony Salerno, was described in the indictment as the boss of ''the Genovese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra.'' The highly detailed, 88-page indictment was unsealed after Mr. Salerno and several others were arrested on the charges. The other defendants were identified as some of Mr. Salerno's top Genovese associates, three members of other crime families and four New York business executives, including Edward J. Halloran, former owner of the Halloran House hotel, at 525 Lexington Avenue near 49th Street.