that certain of these species, if not all, are very poisonous at 

 certain stages of their growth, more particularly the ripened pods. 



It seems hardly possible that the species found so abundantly 

 by the writers throughout the whole extent of the region visited 

 can be poisonous, or some information would have been given us 

 by some of the many herders and sheep ow r ners with whom we 

 were co-operating. An extract from the work of the above 

 mentioned writers will show conclusively that some species of 

 lupine are exceedingly poisonous when the pods are- fully formed: 



' 'The first case of poisoning from lupines which was brought 

 to our attention occurred in August, 1896. A band of sheep, 

 while being moved from one range to another, was driven rapidly, 

 and was consequently in a very hungry condition when it was 

 allowed to feed in a field of lupine for a short time. Within two 

 hours after beginning to eat the lupine a number of sheep man- 

 ifested violent symptoms of poisoning, and a few died within one 

 hour after the appearance of the first signs of poisoning. Of the 

 200 sheep in the band 100 had died before the following morning. 

 The season of 1896 was rather late, and at the time when the 

 poisoning occurred the lupine pods were fully formed, but the 

 seeds were not quite ripe. In this case the sheep were driven 

 away from the lupine as soon as the first symptoms ot poisoning 

 had been noticed, and some of the sheep had eaten only small 

 quantities of the plants. About 150 out of the 200 were affected, 

 and as only fifty of these ultimately recovered, it will be seen that 

 the death rate was very high. 



1 ' The owner of these sheep during the same season cut a 

 quantity of lupine hay during the second half of July. In the 

 winter of 1897 a band of 150 bucks belonging to the same sheep 

 raiser were kept in a covered Corral and were fed on cultivated 

 hay. On one afternoon during the winter these bucks were 

 given a liberal quantity of the lupine hay. About three hours 

 after feeding this hay a noisy disturbance was noticed among the 

 sheep. Upon investigation the owner found the sheep in a 

 frenzied condition, and during the night about ninety of them 

 died. No more lupine hay was fed and no more trouble was 

 experienced." 



It is also reported that in Montana in 1898 1,150 sheep died 



