68 PASTURE AND RANGE. 
and the fleece drops out in patches. There is an uncer- 
tainty and incodrdination of the muscular movements, 
comparable to that exhibited in cases of drunkenness. 
The animal wanders aimlessly about, straying from the 
flock. Sight and hearing are affected. In some cases com- 
plete blindness ensues, and in others the animal is unable 
to judge the size of objects, or its distance from 
them. In later stages fits of trembling follow each other 
at short intervals and the power of locomotion is gradu- 
ally lost. Death comes from exhaustion and lack of nutri- 
tion. 
Cattle and horses sometimes become dangerous. Cattle 
have been known to attack persons or other animals. 
Locoed horses may work as usual for some time and then 
develop vicious fits of kicking. Their lack of judgment 
of the distance and size of objects is often very marked. 
They become easily frightened at imaginary objects and 
run away. As is the case with sheep, they become 
stupid and lethargic as the disease progresses. Chesnut 
and Wilcox tell of one horse that spent two weeks with- 
out moving from a spot of dry ground one hundred and 
fifty feet square. The horse then walked some distance 
to a stream and in attempting to drink, fell and was un- 
able to rise. 
When a large quantity of the weed is eaten by an ani- 
mal unused to it, acute poisoning results. The symptoms 
oe are much more violent than in chronic cases. 
Locoism na case described by Chesnut and Wilcox the 
animal, a sheep, was completely blind within 
ten hours after she was first observed eating Loco Weed. 
She exhibited locomotor ataxia, walking in circles with 
her head bent to the right. As the disease progressed the 
circles became smaller. Pronounced muscular twitchings 
