8 BULLETIN 1240, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Table 3. — Duration of illness in cases of sheep poisoned by species of zygadenm 
Species of 
Zygadenus. 
Maximum. 
Minimum. 
Average. 
Z. gramineus 
Z. paniculatus 
79 hours 20 minutes (died); 68 hours 
20 minutes (recovered). 
96 hours 
1 observation ' 
do 
12 hours 1 minut'j. 
...do 
90 hours 5 minutes 
do 
1 Duration oftime not recorded. 
It will be noticed that, exclusive of those cases in which there was 
only a single observation, the shortest average time during which 
the symptoms persisted w T as in the case of animals poisoned by 
Zygadenus elegans and the longest time in those poisoned by Z. 
'paniculatus. Possibly it might be assumed that the duration of 
illness was correlated with the greater or less toxicity of the plant. 
This does not seem to hold, however, inasmuch as the average 
duration in the Z. venenosus cases was more than twice that of the 
Z. gramineus cases, while the longest duration of illness was in those 
sheep poisoned by Z. paniculatus, although this is not so toxic as 
either Z. venenosus or Z. gramineus. 
TIME ELAPSED BETWEEN FEEDING OF PLANT AND DEVELOPMENT OF SYMPTOMS. 
The cattle received the plant in hay and the feeding was extended 
over a considerable period of time, so that it is impossible to tell 
with any accuracy the time necessary to develop symptoms. In 
both cases the eating covered about 2 hours and the symptoms were 
noted 2 hours after the feeding was completed. 
In the case of the pigs, while they were fed with bran, they ate the 
material immediately, so that they could well be compared with 
sheep fed by the balling gun. In the second feeding of pig 23 the 
symptoms were noted in the morning, but it was evident from the 
vomited material that it had been sick in the night ; the time when 
these symptoms first appeared was not known. Of the other two 
cases the symptoms appeared in one pig in 1 hour and 10 minutes, 
and in the other in 2 hours and 38 minutes. The average of the 
two was 1 hour and 54 minutes. 
Table 4 shows the period of development of symptoms in sheep, 
including only those fed by balling gun, and of these excluding 
Nos. 634, 637, 646, and 603, as these animals became sick in the 
night at a time when no observations were made. 
Table 4. — Time elapsed between feeding of plant and development of symptom* in 
sheep fed by balling gun. 
Sheep 
No. 
Date. 
Time to symptoms. 
Sheep 
No. 
Date. 
Time to symptoms. , 
633 
642 
645 
649 
615 
611 
624 
627 
637 
643 
642 
July 1 
Julv 6 
Julv 8 
Julv 11 
Julv 1!) 
Julv 22 
Aug. i 
Auk- 4 
Aug. io 
Auk. 12 
Auk- It 
8 hours 1 minute. 
6 hours 29 minutes. 
1 hour 58 minutes. 
2 hours 13 minutes. 
1 hour 2 minutes. 
2 hours 22 minutes. 
1 hour 35 minutes. 
1 hour 58 minutes. 
1 hour 10 minutes; 
death, 
i hour 17 minutes. 
l hour 5 minutes. 
612 
617 
639 
641 
('.».') 
646 
Aug. 29 
Sept. 5 
Sept. 10 
Sep:. L2 
Sent. 14 
1 hour 24 minutes. 
1 hours 32 minutes. 
l hour 8 minutes. 
1 hour 34 minutes. 
2 hours 23 minutes. 
t hours 45 minutes. 
3 hours 19 minutes. 
2 hours 35 minutes. 
2 hours 13 minutes. 
2 hours 14 minutes. 
hours 10 minutes. 
44 minutes. 
' 541 
613 
614 
582 
620 
Sept. 15 
Sent. 19 
. ..do 
Sept. 21 
642. . . 
...do 
