4 BULLETIN 800, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
force engaged in investigating poisonous plants. It was found that 
during lambing the sheep were fed Gunnison Valley hay which 
contained a considerable quantity of Asdepias galioides. One hun- 
dred and twenty were said to have been fed, and of that number 
between 50 and 60 died. The symptoms, as described by the vet- 
erinarian who was ealled in, comprised convulsions, rapid pulse 
and respiration. Xausea and considerable salivation were present. 
So bloating was noticed. In the autopsy the only lesion reported 
was hemorrhagic spots on the heart and lungs. These cases, it 
should be noticed, were due to the dry plant in the hay. 
About the middle of June, 1918, a letter was received from Assistant 
District Forester Hatton referring to a heavy loss of sheep near 
Hotchkiss, Colo., with the suggestion that the matter might be worth 
more careful investigation. Hotchkiss was reached on June 14 by 
the senior author, and the next day, in company with Mr. Bennett, 
who owned the sheep, Mr. Kreutzer. the supervisor of the Gunnison 
National Forest, and Fred Hotchkiss, of Hotchkiss, he made an ex- 
amination of the locality. It was found that 1,600 sheep had been 
kept on a pasture of about 40 acres in the " Midway " region for a 
day with no feed exceiDt that which could be grazed in the pasture. 
An examination of the pasture showed that the vegetation was largely 
sagebrush, amlaria, and Asdepias galioides. A part of the pasture 
was an abandoned orchard in which milkweed was abundant. 
The deaths of the sheep had occurred between 2 and 3 weeks before, 
and in consequence it was somewhat difficult to determine to what 
extent the milkweed had been grazed. A careful examination, how- 
ever, showed that it had been eaten in many places, and as there 
was little else in the pasture it was assumed that the animals had 
eaten the weed, and that it was the cause of the loss. At that time 
the weed was from 8 to 15 inches high, and was in bud but with 
no flowers. It was stated that the animals did not die in the pasture 
but th,at symptoms began to appear 2 or 3 hours after they left it. 
Some of them lived 12 hours after symptoms appeared. The prin- 
cipal symptoms, according to Mr. Bennett, were violent convulsions, 
and it was said that the animals would pound their heads upon 
the ground. Some of the animals became sick as late as 1 o'clock 
the next day. The total loss was about 400. or about half of those 
that were sick. 
The weed was found in some other localities between Hotchkiss 
and Paonia, and Mr. Hotchkiss remarked that he had noticed that 
when hungry sheep fed upon it many of the sheep died, and that 
when they avoided the milkweed he lost no sheep, so he felt positive 
that the milkweed was the cause of the loss. The evidence pointed 
so strongly to the milkweed that it was deemed probable that it was 
the real cause of the losses. 
