DISEASES OF SHEEP 605 



A majority of sheep which were poisoned from death camas, as 

 is the case with other poisonous plants, were yearlings and 2-year- 

 olds. It is possible that more fixed and settled habits of feeding are 

 formed as the animals grow older. There was no indication that 

 ewes with lambs at their side were any more apt to eat death camas 

 than were dry sheep. 



It is frequently observed in the study of stock poisoning that a 

 great variation prevails in the time when the first symptoms of pois- 

 oning develop. The only explanation for this fact which suggests 

 itself is to be found in the anatomy of ruminants. In one case it may 

 happen that the poisonous substances pass into the fourth stomacn 

 and are thus absorbed at once, while in another case poisonous plants 

 may remain in the first stomach, or rumen, with a mass of other for- 

 age material and are not absorbed until after some hours. Obviously, 

 a poisonous plant has no effect upon domestic animals until absorp- 

 tion takes place, and the variation of time at which the symptoms are 

 manifested may perhaps be explained by the facts to which attention 

 has just been called. 



The evidence establishing the poisonous nature of death camas 

 from observation and with experiments is quite conclusive. Death 

 camas was found to be present in abundance in localities where pois- 

 oning occurred. It was found upon examination of the range that 

 this plant had been eaten extensively. Death camas was found in 

 large quantities in the stomachs of sheep which died under such cir- 

 cumstances. Sheep which were seen eating the plant when feeding 

 at leisure upon the range showed within a few hours the symptoms of 

 poisoning as previously described. Besides this evidence obtained un- 

 der natural conditions, experimental proof was secured by collecting 

 death camas and feeding it to sheep. During extended trips over 

 different parts of the State many localities were examined where it 

 was stated that poisoning uniformly occurred if sheep were allowed to 

 range there during the early spring. Death camas was found to be 

 the only suspected plant which grew in abundance in all such 

 localities. 



Tall Larkspur (Delphinium glaucum}. This is the common 

 tall larkspur of Montana, often erroneously called aconite. It is 

 a simple-stemmed perennial, 3 to 6 feet in height, smooth through- 

 out, and covered during its earlier stages with a whitish coating. 

 The basal leaves are long stemmed and form tufts which attain the 

 height of a foot or more by the 1st of June. These lower leaves 

 resemble those of the wild geranium, being circular in outline and 

 divided into a number of broad segments. The upper-stem leaves 

 become gradually narrower with narrowing lance-like segments. 

 The flowers are numerous, pale blue, and in a long terminal raceme. 

 The tall larkspur is most likely to be mistaken for the wild geranium 

 during its younger stages before flowering. After flowering the two 

 species are readily distinguished. A little experience, however, 

 during which special attention is devoted to the leaf characters of 

 the two plants, will enable anyone to note the differences, even at a 



