32 BULLETIN 405;, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTURE. 



The two cases of death resulted from doses of 0.543 and 0.441 

 pound. The general deduction from the experiments of 1913 on 

 ground seed was that the toxic dose was between 0.25 and 0.5 pound, 

 and the lethal dose about 0.5 pound, with the probabihty that in the 

 average cases the lethal dose was somewhat more, perhaps nearly 0.6 

 pound. 



It was considered that these experiments determined the dosage 

 nearly enough for practical purposes, and in the experiments of 

 administering ground seed in 1914, which were mainly with reference 

 to the effect of antidotes, the dosage was intended to be heavy enough 

 to produce serious illness, if not death. The general results showed 

 that the estimate of dosage made in 1913 was approximately correct, 

 and that the toxic dose is somewhat less than 0.5 pound, sometimes 

 as low as 0.25 pound. 



TOXICITY OF LUPINE PODS FOR SHEEP. 



The number of experiments of feeding lupine pods was not suffi- 

 cient to determme the dosage with any exactness. Sheep No. 253 

 died on August 6, 1914, from eating 2.755 pounds of pods. This 

 material had been collected previously and dried, but the weight as 

 given is the green weight, as the loss from evaporation was known. 

 These were pods in which the seed was not yet ripe. 



Sheep No. 301 died on August 28, 1914, from eating 2.041 pounds 

 of pods which were collected after they had shed most of their seed; 

 a few seeds, however, remained attached to the pods. The weight 

 given is the dry weight, as there was no way of estimatmg the loss 

 of water in drying. In all the other cases much smaller quantities 

 were fed, and no intoxication resulted. It can only be said that the 

 pods are distinctly toxic, but the dosage is much greater than of the 

 seeds. 



It may be added in this connection that in 1913 a careful compu- 

 tation was made of the relative weights of the seeds and pods in the 

 fruit, and that, based on the result of this work, the toxic dose of pods 

 would be 3.4 pounds. Without much doubt the toxicity of the pods 

 varies at different seasons and probably is much reduced in the dried 

 pods remaining attached to the plants in the late summer and fall, 



TOXICITY OF LUPINE FRUIT FOR SHEEP. 



By "fruit" is understood the pods with the contained seeds. A 

 considerable number of experiments were made to determme the 

 toxicity of the fruit as compared with the seed. Table 5 gives the 

 results of these experiments. The term ''Seed heads" means the 

 fruits and the stems bearing them. In the cases listed under '' Fruity 

 fully developed," the pods were picked from the stems. 



The last four feedings under "Fruit, fully developed" were of 

 very poor, locoed animals; consequently, the dosage (as computed 



