20 BULLETIN 405, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



Inasmucli as nearly all the recorded losses are of sheep, niost of 

 the work was done with these animals, there being, all told, 141 

 experimental cases. Two head of cattle were fed, and there were 

 10 experiments with horses. Table 1 contains a summarized state- 

 ment of the field experimental work. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH CATTLE. 



Two head of cattle, Nos. 108 and 620, were fed with lupine, but in 

 neither case was there any result. This should not be interpreted, 

 however, as proving that cattle can not be poisoned by lupine; 

 accounts have reached the Department of Agriculture of the poisoning 

 of cattle in the field under circumstances which make it seem very 

 probable that lupine was the cause. However, it does not seem 

 probable that the lupines cause any serious loss of cattle. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH HORSES. 



There were 10 experiments of feeding lupine to horses, 8 with Lu- 

 pinus myrianthus and 2 with L. comatus. Horse No. 72, between 

 September 22 and 26, 1909, ate, per 1,000 pounds of its weight, 77.2 

 pounds of lupine, including leaves, stems, flowers, and fruit. The 

 animal died, the marked symptoms being general depression and 

 dullness, abdominal pain, twitching of the surface muscles, and high 

 stepping as he walked about. The animal was very much consti- 

 pated and in the autopsy there was clear evidence of intestinal im- 

 paction. At the time, because of the negative results obtained, it was 

 thought probable that the intestmal impaction was the cause of 

 death, but a review of the case, after more complete knowledge of 

 lupine poisoning, made it appear quite certain that this horse was a 

 victim of lupine intoxication. 



The two feeding experiments with horse No. 124 were negative. 

 With horse No. 78 there were five feeding experiments with Lwpinus 

 myrianthus — two in 1909, two in 1910, and one in 1911. In 1911 

 there were also two experiments with this horse of feeding L. 

 comatus. In four of the experiments with horse No. 78 there were 

 distinct symptoms of illness, consisting of contractions of the surface 

 muscles, intestinal disturbance, indicated m the main by constipa- 

 tion but showmg diarrhea in one case, dullness and depression, with a 

 tendency to lift the fore feet unusually high when stepping about. 



The experiments with horses were sufficient to establish the fact 

 that these animals may be poisoned by the lupines. No deductions, 

 however, can be drawn as to the toxic dose, since the periods during 

 which the feedings were continued were extremely variable. To estab- 

 lish definitely the dosage for horses would require a large number of 

 carefully conducted experiments comparable with those on sheep, and 

 for such experiments there has been as yet no opportunity. 



