19 



to be strangling, perhaps due to froth getting into the windpipe. It 

 fell at 4 : 30 and could not get up again ; at 4 : 45 it got up, but could 

 barely walk. At 7 p. m. it was down and could not be induced to rise. 

 It continued to get weaker and duller until 10 : 30 p. m., when the 

 observer left for the night. The animal probably died soon afterward ; 

 as it was dead, cold and stiff, at 8 the following morning. 



A Table of Symptoms of Death Camas Poisoning in Sheep. 



Table III gives in very condensed and concrete form the effects of 

 various quantities of death camas (Z. paniculatus and Z. venenosus) 

 when fed to sheep (see page 18). 



Feeding the Green Foot-Hill Death Camas to a Ewe with Suckling Lamb. 



Reports from various sources made it seem possible that suckling 

 lambs might be poisoned by alkaloids secreted in the mother's milk 

 when the ewes fed upon this plant, and before the lambs were old 

 enough to nibble at it. To test this matter, a ewe with a suckling lamb 

 was fed the foot-hill death camas under the conditions listed in 

 Table IV. 



TABLE IV 



FOOT-HILL DEATH CAMAS (Z. paniculatus). THE FRESH LEAVES FED TO A EWE 



WITH SUCKLING LAMB. 



The tests recorded in Table IV show that although the ewe was fed 

 amounts varying from -J pound to 1 pounds and was made sick four 

 times, still the suckling lamb was not affected during any of the twelve 

 feedings of its mother. 



In the case of the ewe these feedings would also seem to indicate that 

 there is little or no tendency for a sheep to become immune to the 

 poisonous effects of death camas after feeding repeatedly upon it. 



Feeding Green Foot-Hill Death Camas to Cattle. 



Table V summarizes the results of eighteen tests in which the fresh 

 green plants were fed to cattle (see next page). 



It appears from this table that cattle are quite susceptible to the 

 poisonous principle of the foot-hill death camas. Out of the eighteen 

 feedings, ten made the animal sick; but no deaths occurred. It was 

 almost impossible to get cattle to eat more than two pounds of the 

 plant; because they soon became so violently sick that they vomited 

 up all the material eaten. Two small feedings of pound each had no 

 apparent effect upon the animals fed; but quantities of from f of a 

 pound to two pounds usually caused symptoms of poisoning. In some 

 instances poisoning was quite severe, reducing for several days the 

 vigor and strength of the animal. 



