lo March, 1909.] Diseases of Farm Annuals. 157 



broken wind, that is requiring a double expiratory effort to expel air from 

 the lungs. The eyes suffer, the pupils being dilated and the horse afraid 

 to enter a stable door. 



Treatment. — Complete change of food, saline aperients, and diuretics, 

 then tonics and several weeks rest before working. 



Many horses so affected, because they continue to eat although losing 

 flesh, and being low spirited, are ignorantlv overworked and die, the cause 

 of illness being unsuspected. 



Maize in the ear gets sometimes flooded, or is so saturated with rain, 

 as to get mouldy in the cob ; this is not seen outside the grain but at the 

 hilum, its point of connexion with the pith. Being discoloured it is not 

 readily marketable, and farmers feed it to horses and pigs. I have seen 

 much illness with fatal results follow. 



Planter's friend, sorghum and corn straw are all liable to rust similar 

 to wheat straw, and are then dangerous food, as also is ensilage which 

 has become mouldy. 



Where appliances are available fodder damaged by moulds, &:c., should 

 be steamed thoroughly before teing blended with other food." 



Poisoqir]g by Scun] on Water. 



" Francis, of Adelaide, records (in Nature, February, 1878) the effects 

 of a C'Onferva indigenous and confined to the lakes forming the estuary of 

 the Murray River. It is considered to be Nodnlaria sferm'igcra, allied to 

 Protococcus, and floats on the surface of the water, being wafted to the 

 lee shores and forming a dense scum like green oil paint, some 2 to 6 inches 

 thick, and as pasty as porridge ; it is swallowed by animals when drinking, 

 and sheep die from its effects in one to .six or eight hours, showing stupor 

 and unconsciousness, falling and remaining quiet as if asleep unless 

 touched, when convulsions come on, with head and neck drawn back by 

 rigid spasm, which subsides before death. The scum given experi- 

 mentally in doses of 30 ounces caused death in fifteen hours, and autopsv 

 showed no green scum in the stomachs, but their contents dry ; two pints 

 of serum in the abdominal cavity ; heart flaccid but not pale ; much effusion 

 of serum around the heart. Dura mater congested. Blood black and 

 uncoagulable, did not become scarlet on exposure to the air."* 



Fungus Poisor|iqg. 



" It has been observed that no hard and fast rule can be laid down 

 as to which of the fungi are poisonous, and which are not, e.g., the com- 

 mon mushroom (the Agaricus campestris), an article of diet in England 

 and Australia, is a deadly poison in Russia : and other species, which are 

 eaten with impunity in Italy and Switzerlaml are known to produce 

 poisonous effects when grown in England. Thus it is seen that climatic 

 and other influences have a great deal to do with the formation and 

 elaboration of its active-principle ' fungin," which is said to be of a 

 volatile nature and soluble in water. It is certain that if a fungus be 

 grown in any other than its proper season, or in a dark place, that the 

 elaboration of the ' fungin ' will he increased, and, therefore, the fungus 

 should be locked upon with suspicion."! 



Poisonous fungi have a styptic astringent taste and are described by 

 Taylor as narcotico-irritant poLsons. 



* steels Diseases of the Sheep. 



t H. H. Edwards, in ihe AiiMralasilan Vftcrinarij and Line Stock Jonninl, July, 1F90. 



