Qa ee ee eee ee _ 
LUPINES AS POISONOUS PLANTS. 3 
In America the first published report of losses of sheep is by 
Chesnut (1899, p. 404-405), and this report with the papers of 
Wilcox (1899), Chesnut and Wilcox (1901, p. 100-110), and Slade 
| (1903), comprise all that has been published up to the present time. 
Other authors have mentioned the subject, but their material is 
| all taken from the reports of Wilcox, and Chesnut and Wilcox. 
The first general account of lupine poisoning in America is by 
| Wilcox (1899). A much more extended account is given by 
Chesnut and Wilcox (1901, p. 100-110), with details of cases and 
symptoms. Wilcox notes that mature plants are the more poison- 
ous, and Chesnut and Wilcox definitely state that the toxic principle 
is mainly in the pods and seeds and that lupine hay should be cut 
after the seeds are shed. Both Wilcox, and Chesnut and Wilcox 
| apparently consider the poisoning of sheep in America as similar to 
the disease called ‘‘lupinosis” in Germany, although Chesnut and 
Wilcox (1901, p. 109) state that the ‘chronic form of the disease”’ 
has not been recognized in America. Sollmann, in an unpublished 
report of a laboratory study of American lupines, a report made 
under the direction of the Bureau of Plant Industry, which will be 
discussed more fully later, states that he failed to find evidence of 
the presence of ictrogen and gives details of the symptoms produced 
by the alkaloidal substances extracted by him. His work was not 
connected with field investigations, but the results, viewed in the 
light of present knowledge, clearly indicate the probability that the 
field cases of poisoning by lupine in America are not cases of 
“lupinosis”’ in the sense in which the term is used in Europe, but are 
the result of alkaloidal poisoning. The field investigations reported 
im this paper establish without a doubt the fact that, so far as ob- 
served, all cases of poisoning of range sheep by lupines must be con- 
sidered as due to the alkaloids and not to ictrogen. These field 
investigations are in entire harmony with the preliminary laboratory 
| study by Dr. Sollmann, although carried on in an independent way 
without reference to the preceding results obtained in the laboratory. 
ANIMALS POISONED BY LUPINES. 
While the losses of domestic animals have been mainly of sheep, 
other animals also are poisoned—horses, cattle, goats, swine, and 
_ fallow deer—and laboratory experiments on small animals indicate 
that none are immune to the effects of the toxic substances. 
~ Wilcox (1899) states that in Montana a few horses have been 
| poisoned, and Chesnut and Wilcox (1901 p. 100-110) give specific 
instances. Poisoning of horses on the range or in pastures is not 
common, but is known to occur. Dammann (1902) states that 
cattle are affected by the alkaloid, and cases of the poisoning of 
cattle on the range have been reported in America, although the 
cases are not very well authenticated. 
