62 BULLETIN 365, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Knowles, in 1897, in detailing the symptoms, says that the animals 
stray about, become dull, and when started go on a straight line 
until an obstacle is met, then fall. They rarely bloat. There is a 
dribbling of saliva and a champing of the jaws. Wilcox, in 1897, 
states that the symptoms of larkspur poisoning resemble those of 
aconite poisoning. The first signs are a general stiffness and a 
straddling, noted especially in the hind legs. The stiffness becomes 
more pronounced until walking is very difficult and evidently pain- 
ful. Soon there are manifested involuntary twitchings of the mus- 
cles of the legs and sides of the body. There is a loss of control and 
coordination of the muscles. Ordinarily there is no increase in 
the quantity of the saliva, no champing of the jaws or attempts at 
swallowing. At first the pulse is less frequent and the respiratory 
movements are lessened, while the temperature is lowered. Toward 
the last the respiration is very rapid. The air in the lungs is not 
renewed and the animal dies of asphyxia or suffocation. In the 
latter cases the involuntary movements become more frequent and 
more severe. All four legs tremble and shake violently. The mus- 
cles of the body contract spasmodically until the animal totters 
over and dies in violent spasms. 
In Chesnut and Wilcox, 1901, the symptoms are stated practically 
like those already detailed by Wilcox. They say that the animal gen- 
erally falls and gets on its feet a number of times, while the muscles 
of the sides and legs quiver spasmodically. This quivering of the 
muscles is considered a very characteristic symptom. There is a 
slight increase in the quantity of saliva and the animal dies in vio- 
lent convulsions. The symptoms of poisoning from the low and the 
tall larkspurs are practically the same. 
In comparing the symptoms as detailed by these authors it is 
noticed that there is a good measure of general agreement, and we 
can say that the characteristic symptoms of Delphinium poisoning 
are nausea, weakness, excessive salivation, twitching of the muscles 
of the sides and legs, and convulsions. 
It may be added that the reports of the symptoms of larkspur 
poisoning as given by stockmen all through the region where lark- 
spur is abundant agree very well with those detailed aboA^e by these 
authors. It is said by many of the stockmen that when a poisoned 
animal is started suddenly it runs a short distance, then falls; it 
may pick itself up and run a little farther, but eventually it falls 
and dies. Some of them state that poisoned animals froth at the 
mouth, and most of them agree that the animals die in spasms. 
SYMPTOMS OF LARKSPUR POISONING OBSERVED IN THE EXPERIMENTAL WORK. 
In the animals fed experimentally in the corrals the first indication 
of the poisonous effect of larkspur was that they no longer cared to 
