158 Journal of Agriculture. [10 March, 1909, 



Edwards records^ a case of cattle poisoning from eating the common 

 toad-stool or puff-ball {Ly coper don gigantcum). Two cows which were 

 afterwards found to have eaten from fifteen to twenty large puff-balls 

 were affected. The primary symptoms were: — Abdominal pain, bowel 

 disturbance and accelerated breathing. These were followed in a short 

 time bv great depression, reeling gait, tympanitis, unconsciousness and 

 death. ' Puff-ball skins were found in the paunch and the fluid in the 

 fourth stomach and first part of the small intestines were tinged with the 

 purple contents of the fungus, which had produced inflammatory changes 

 in the lining of the stomachs and bowels. 



Ergotism. 



Ergot of r\e is a fungoid growth occurring on the ears of certain 

 cereals, principally those of the rye family. The plants become affected 

 just before the seeding period by the lodgment on them of spores of a 

 fungus called Clavicefs purpurea {Oidium ahortifaciens). The spores 

 develop a myselium and the growth ultimately assumes the appearance of 

 a cock's spur protruding from the ear in place of the natural grain —hence- 

 the common name "horned rye" {Secalc cornutum). Its poisonous pro- 

 perties depend on the presence of complex active principles of which 

 ergotin and ergotinin are named compounds. These active principles 

 have a special action on vaso-motor nerves and on the involuntary muscular 

 fibre which becomes tonicallv contracted under their influence — hence the 

 violent contractions of the muscular wall of the womb which produces 

 abortion, and the dry gangrene of the extremities resulting from constriction 

 of the blood vessels and consequent cutting off of the blood supplv. One 

 form of foot-rot in sheep is stated to be due to gangrene of the hoof con- 

 sequent on ergotism. 



When a largely ergotized crop is eaten by stock a condition of ergoti.sm 

 is set up of which the most prominent symptoms are dysentery and 

 diarrhoea consequent on bowel inflammation. Abortion of in-calf cows- 

 is an almost constant accompaniment but pregnant ewes are not so fre- 

 quently affected in this way. 



Treatment. — Tannin is the required antidote and agents which over- 

 come spasm such as morphine and chloral hydrate should also be given. 



ANIMAL POISONINGS. 



Snal^e Bite. 



Deaths of animals from snake-bite do not occur so frequently in Aus- 

 tralia as might be expected considering the number and variety of venomous 

 snakes that infest partially-cleared bush used for grazing. This infre- 

 quencv of snake-bite in animals may in part be accounted for by the often 

 observed fact that most of the Australian varieties of snake are not 

 aggressive. Unless thev are attacked or unless they are intercepted in 

 their progress towards their hole they apparently prefer to make away from, 

 rather than to attack, man or animals ; and it mav be assumed that the 

 quiet movements of grazing animals do not excite them to the biting point. 

 The question of dosage has also to be considered in this connexion. It 

 may be that many animals are bitten but that the amount of venom in- 

 jected is not sufficient to produce a fatal effect, for it is easily conceivable 

 that what would be a lethal dose for a human being would produce only a 

 passing indisposition in the larger domestic animals. Again, the hairy 



X H. H. Edwards, in the At'xti-(il(i><ian Vt'tirinorii aii<l fjn' Stock Journal, Julv, 1890. 



