LARKSPUR POISONING OF LIVE STOCK. 73 
tion. In fact, from what is known of the distribution of Delphinium 
hicolor it seems probable to the authors that this species is of no 
economic importance in causing losses of stock. It certainly does 
not poison sheep and it is highly improbable that it ever grows in 
sufficient abundance to be dangerous to cattle. 
POST-MORTEM FEATURES OF LARKSPUR POISONING. 
During the season of 1909 three autopsies were made upon the 
station experimental animals and three upon others that were sup- 
posed to have died of larkspur poisoning. In 1910 nine autopsies 
Avere made on animals that died at the station, and in 1911 three. 
Generally speaking, as has been noted elsewhere, if animals found 
dead upon the range are lying upon uneven ground, the head will be 
found lower than the rest of the body. This was true also of the 
animals that died in the corrals, and is probably explained by the 
fact that as the animals throw themselves about they get their heads 
lower and are unable to turn themselves back. 
Generally, too, the animal dying upon the range is found very 
much bloated. It is very difficult to determine the post-mortem 
condition of range animals, as it is seldom possible to make autopsies 
immediately after death, and as the number of animals autopsied 
at the station was small the facts observed can not be supposed 
to demonstrate conclusively the detailed conditions of larkspur 
poisoning. 
In nearly all cases the heart was found in diastole and filled 
with blood. Commonly, the walls of the heart were more or less 
congested and frequently with petechia. The peripheral veins and 
venous system of the abdomen were found congested. In stripping 
the skin from the animal it was usual to find" the veins immediately 
beneath the skin very much swollen. The lungs were congested, 
and the kidneys acutely congested. There was generally a hyper - 
emic condition of the central nervous system, as would be expected 
from the general condition of the circulatory organs. Commonly 
the inner walls of the trachea and sometimes of the bronchi were 
very deeply congested. Inflammation was almost invariably present 
in the rumen near the esophageal opening. In some cases the walls 
of the second and third stomach were inflamed and in practically 
all cases the pyloric end of the fourth stomach. This inflammation 
extended in greater or less degree through the duodenum, jejunum, 
and ileum. In three cases the colon was inflamed. In five cases the 
wall of the cecum was inflamed, and in most cases the walls of the 
rectum. 
To summarize the noticeable points brought out by the post- 
mortem examinations of these animals, there was marked inflam- 
mation in all parts of the alimentary canal, marked congestion of 
