THE WHORLED MILKWEED AS A POISOISrOUS PLA]<rT. 15 



arecolin liad some value. This horse was fed Asclepias galioides 

 again on September 20, and received 0.14 pound per hundredweight 

 of animal. This was given at 2.05 p. m., and the animal was kept 

 under observation during that and the three succeeding days, but 

 showed no symptoms during that time. 



In the fall the horse wasi taken from the station to a pasture near 

 Salina, where it was kept during the winter. It was reported by the 

 forest ranger who drove the animals down that No. 126 whirled 

 around a number of times, drew its head down and fell, but soon got 

 up and went along. It was also reported that it acted queerly at 

 various times during the winter. It was driven to the station again 

 May 28, 1919, when it was in very good condition. During June and 

 the first half of July, it was repeatedly observed to stop suddenly, 

 whirl about one or more times, draw the head toward the breast, and 

 fall. These fits seemed to come suddenly when the animal was run- 

 ning or excited. In the latter part of July it was fed another 

 species of Asclepias with no effect, and from August 20 to 25 an at- 

 tempt was made to have it Q,2it Asclepias galioides^ but with no success. 



On September 15, 1919, within about 7 hours, it ate 0.507 pound 

 of dry Asclepias galioides, which is equivalent to 0.161 pound of green 

 plant per hundredweight of animal. The- material fed consisted of 

 leaves only and was mixed with chopped alfalfa. As shown else- 

 where (p. 37) it has been found that the leaves of Asclejnas galioides 

 are much more toxic than the stems, so that this quantity, 0.161 pound, 

 was really a much heavier dose than that of the preceding year, 0.22 

 pound, which consisted of stems as well as leaves. The feeding was 

 given at 10.50 a. m. and the above-mentioned amount had been con- 

 sumed at 5.23 p. m. At that time there were symptoms of intoxica- 

 tion, weakness in the hind legs being especially noticeable. These 

 symptoms gradually became more pronounced until at 7.13 the animal 

 went into a spasm. After that the spasms followed one another at 

 exceedingly short intervals and it exhibited all the sj^mptoms seen 

 in its case the preceding year. It was kept under constant ob- 

 servation until death, which occurred at 12.28 p. m., September 16. 



The autopsy was made immediately after death. The stomach was 

 greatly distended with gas, and parts of the wall were deeply con- 

 gested. There were congested areas in the jejunmn, ileum, and 

 cecum. The spleen and pancreas exhibited some congestion. The 

 brain and spinal cord were congested, there were areas of hemor- 

 rhage between the medulla and cerebrum, and minute hemorrhagic 

 areas on the surface of the cord. The heart was in diastole; it was 

 unusually large and the walls were flabby. 



CATTLE EXPERIMENTS. 



Two head of cattle were used in the feeding experiments. No. 815 

 was fed four times; August 1 it received 0,163 pound of Asclepias 



