OR DEATH CAMAS. 33 
The seeds are very much more poisonous than any other part of the 
plant. Heyl, Loy, Knight, and Prien (1912, p. 17) give the results of 
determinations of alkaloids in different parts of the plant. Their 
statement is obscure and contradictory, but apparently they reach 
the conclusion that the bulbs and leaves contain approximately the 
same quantity of the alkaloid, the roots much less, and the flowers 
about twice as much as the bulbs and leaves. This compares very 
well with the results of the experimental feeding at Greycliff , except 
that it did not appear that the flowers were more toxic than other 
parts of the plant. 
Table II gives the maximum and minimum dosage, and it will 
be noticed that there is a considerable range of variation between 
these two. The individual peculiarities of the animal in cases of 
poisoning doubtless must be taken into account, and the detailed 
table of the experiments shows that in some cases a larger quantity 
of plant than that which this table indicates to be toxic may be 
administered without effect. In most of the cases, however, where 
the larger amount was used, the feeding was distributed over a 
longer time. 
In general, the experiments seem to indicate that when any part 
of the plant except the seed is used the toxic dose varies from 1.6 
pounds per hundredweight of animal to 5.6 pounds, this wide range 
of variation being accounted for by the more or less extended time 
of feeding. In the drenching and forced-feeding experiments, more 
uniform results were reached, showing that the toxic dose of all parts 
of the plant, except the seed, is not far from 0.5 pound per hundred- 
weight of animal. 
There is considerable difference in the items of the summarized 
tables in the exactness of the averages, and some explanation is 
necessary to indicate their actual value. 
In the feeding of leaves in 1914, there were three cases, two 
becoming sick. The third case received 0.661 pound without symp- 
toms, the same quantity that was received by No. 282, which became 
sick. It seems probable, then, that the average figure 0.6615 must 
be pretty close to the toxic limit. In the feeding of " leaves and some 
young buds" in 1914, while the minimum of sick cases received 0.499 
pound, another animal received 0.551 pound without ill effect; it is 
evident that the toxic limit must be not far from 0.5 poimd. In the 
feeding of eight cases on " leaves, stems, flowers, and buds," with 
material collected near the station, the toxic limit was practically the 
same as in the preceding cases. A perusal of Table II shows that 
during the growth of the seed heads the toxicity was reduced and 
that the fully developed seed heads were somewhat less toxic than 
the plant in the earlier stages. 
