LARKSPUR POISONING OF LIVE STOCK. 73 



tion. In fact, from what is known of the distribution of Delphinium 

 Jncolor it seems probable to the authors that this species is of no 

 economic importance in causing losses of stock. It certainly does 

 not poison sheep and it is highly improbable that it ever grows in 

 sufficient abundance to be dangerous to cattle. 



POST-MORTEM FEATURES OF LARKSPUR POISONING. 



During the season of 1909 three autopsies were made upon the 

 station experimental animals and three upon others that were sup- 

 posed to have died of larkspur poisoning. In 1910 nine autopsies 

 Avere made on animals that died at the station, and in 1911 three. 

 Generally speaking, as has been noted elsewhere, if animals found 

 dead upon the range are lying upon uneven ground, the head will be 

 found lower than the rest of the body. This was true also of the 

 animals that died in the corrals, and is probably explained by the 

 fact that as the animals throw themselves about they get their heads 

 lower and are unable to turn themselves back. 



Generally, too, the animal dying upon the range is found very 

 much bloated. It is very difficult to determine the post-mortem 

 condition of range animals, as it is seldom possible to make autopsies 

 immediately after death, and as the number of animals autopsied 

 at the station was small the facts observed can not be supposed 

 to demonstrate conclusively the detailed conditions of larkspur 

 poisoning. 



In nearly all cases the heart was found in diastole and filled 

 with blood. Commonly, the walls of the heart were more or less 

 congested and frequently with petechise. The peripheral veins and 

 venous system of the abdomen were found congested. In stripping 

 the skin from the animal it was usual to find the veins immediately 

 beneath the skin very much swollen. The lungs were congested, 

 and the kidneys acutely congested. There was generally a hyper- 

 emic condition of the central nervous system, as would be expected 

 from the general condition of the circulatory organs. Commonly 

 the inner walls of the trachea and sometimes of the bronchi were 

 very deeply congested. Inflammation was almost invariably present 

 in the rumen near the esophageal opening. In some cases the walls 

 of the second and third stomach were inflamed and in practically 

 all cases the pyloric end of the fourth stomach. This inflammation 

 extended in greater or less degree through the duodenum, jejunum, 

 and ileum. In three cases the colon was inflamed. In five cases the 

 wall of the cecum was inflamed, and in most cases the walls of the 

 rectum. 



To summarize the noticeable points brought out by the post- 

 mortem examinations of these animals, there was marked inflam- 

 mation in all parts of the alimentary canal, marked congestion of 



