17 



that it could easily be pushed over. The mucous membranes of the 

 mouth and tongue were bluish. At 7 : 30 p. m. it seemed better, and did 

 not appear so weak. At 9 a. m. next day it was down flat on the side 

 and unable to rise. At 11 a. m. it had twitching movements of the 

 muscles similar to those in strychnine poisoning. The animal remained 

 down all that day. Next morning it was still down and appeared to be 

 getting weaker; the breathing was labored and was accompanied by 

 peculiar grunts. At 9 a. m. on the 18th it was found dead, but still 

 warm. 



Case 8. A ewe weighing 77 pounds was fed three pounds of death 

 camas at 11 : 20 a. m. May 22, 1918. At 12 : 30 it was frothing at the 

 mouth ; by 1 : 30 it was frothing freely at the mouth and vomiting ; 

 these symptoms continued until about 2 : 30. By 2 : 50 the animal was 

 weak in the hind legs and staggered when made to walk. The animal 

 continued to get worse, and by 4 p. m. was very weak and dull, standing 

 with head and ears drooping and the back arched. At 4 :30 it vomited 

 again. At 7 a. m. the animal was very dull, and staggered when made 

 to move. It continued to grow worse until 10 p. m. Next' morning, 

 at 8 a. m. it was very weak and unable to get up. It remained in this 

 condition all the forenoon ; and died quietly at 1 : 30 p. m. 



Meadow Death Camas (Zygadenus venenosus) Feeding Experiments with Sheep. 

 Only three feeding tests were made, as the plant is not at all abun- 

 dant on the ranges in western Nevada ; and material for the tests was 

 necessarily limited. It is much less important on Nevada ranges than 

 the foot-hill death camas. The results of the three feedings are sum- 

 marized in Table II. 



TABLE II 



MEADOW DEATH CAMAS (Z. venenosus}. THE GREEN LEAVES AND FLOWERS 



FED TO SHEEP. 



The experiments summarized in Table II show that this plant is 

 poisonous and that amounts of one pound or more will cause serious 

 poisoning in sheep. The symptoms produced by this plant are almost 

 identical with those described for the foot-hill species, as will be seen 

 from the following typical cases : 



Typical Cases of Poisoning in Sheep, Meadow Death Camas. 



Case 1. A ewe weighing 93 pounds was fed one pound at 10 : 50 a. m. 

 At 1 : 40 p. m. it was foaming at the mouth. At 2 : 40 it was chewing 

 cud, but still foaming at the mouth. At 5 p. m. it appeared to have 

 recovered. 



Case 2. On June 26, 1919, a ewe weighing 101 pounds was fed two 

 pounds of the plant at 11 a. m. At 11 : 50 it was foaming at the mouth 

 and vomiting. At 1 p. m. the respiration was rapid and irregular, 

 varying from 55 to 70 per minute. It still frothed freely at the mouth, 

 the froth being scattered all over the pen. By 4 : 15 it was very weak, 

 staggered when walking, trying to vomit. The animal then appeared 



