THE MEADOW DEATH CAMAS AS A POISONOUS PLANT. 11 
ate 1 pound with no effect. It would appear that 0.838 pound per 
100 pounds is not far from the minimum dose under the conditions of 
the experiments. These figures are not comparable with those for 
sheep, as the cattle did not eat the plant immediately, and the dosage 
would consequently be likely to be greater. Fleming and coauthors 
(1921, p. 21) report poisoning a calf on 0.453 pound per hundred- 
weight of animal. It seems probable that this result indicates more 
nearly the minimum dose than do those of this bulletin, for it was 
shown in Department Bulletin 1012 that Zygadenus paniculatus was 
probably more poisonous to cattle than to sheep, and it would be 
assumed that the same thing would be true of Z. venenosus. 
Swine. — The minimum dose affecting pigs was 0.067 pound per 
100 pounds of animal. 
SUSCEPTIBILITY OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS. 
These experiments have shown the effect of the plant on cattle, 
sheep, and swine. No experiments were made with horses, but there 
is abundant evidence of horses being made sick, sometimes with fatal 
results. Under range conditions neither cattle nor horses ordinarily 
eat enough of the plant to do any harm, but the loss of sheep is very 
large. The common method of handling sheep in the West, by which 
they are frequently close herded over the grazing areas so that they 
eat most of the vegetation, results in their eating more of poisonous 
plants. 
COMPARATIVE TOXICITY OF PARTS OF PLANT. 
In most of the experimental work with Zygadenus venenosus the 
whole plant was used, including leaves, stems, flowers, and some 
bulbs, and 18 sheep were poisoned in this way. To 1 sheep flowers 
were fed, to 2 stems, and 4 received bulbs. All these animals were 
fed in the same way, by the balling gun. The minimum effective 
doses were as follows : 
Lb. per cwt. 
Leaves, stems, flowers, and some bulbs 0. 372 
Flowers . 75 
Stems . 5 
Bulbs .3 
Leaves • . 5 
Because of the small number of cases in which flowers, stems,, 
leaves, or bulbs were used separately, anything like exact inferences 
in regard to the comparative toxicity of the parts can hardly be drawn. 
It would seem, however, that the bulbs are somewhat more toxic 
than the other parts of the plant. 
COMPARATIVE TOXICITY OF SPECIES OF ZYGADENUS. 
Table 6 shows the minimum toxic dosage of Zygadenus gramineus, 
Z. paniculatus, Z. elegans, and Z. venenosus, expressed in pounds per 
hundredweight of animal. All these cases were either force-fed or 
drenched, except in the case of the seeds of Z. gramineus, which were 
