94 BULLETIN 1012, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
green weight the figures for the dosage of Sheep 199 and 185 should 
be multiplied by four. This makes ‘the dosage Lompate fairly well 
with the 1920 experiments. 
COMPARATIVE TOXICITY OF Z. GRAMINEUS Z. PANICULATUS, AND Z. ELEGANS. 
From the somewhat insufficient data of the experimental work 
there have been tabulated the smallest effective doses in sheep of the 
three species of Zygadenus which have been examined. All these 
cases were of forced feedings with the exception of the feeding of 
seed of es gramineus. 
TaBLE 11.—Comparative toxicity of Z. gramineus, Z. paniculatus, and Z. elegans; 
minimum effective dosage. rots 
ote t 
F ; _| Zegrami- Z. panicu- | ish 
Part of plant. s-- neous. 1 ---latus: | Z. elegans. 
: : _. Pound. | Pounds. Pounds. 
CAVES ASLEIMS ANGey.O ULI CATT UI eee ee ey eae ee ee | 0.757 | 1.505 
Leaves and’ steims.1555. 2 fs, eee ee ee z35R0| 1. 984 3. 748 
STUN eM CAS a se ee ayes ss Re Fee ne ee a Oa 141 | OL area vo ee 
Geode cee Pee ere Fe tue see ee ee SP gok os thet ag 1,092 | .07 | 5.” aes 
Leaves, stems, and UGS Sree ee aes eee ees eR eas Fee - 495 | 1.096 | 197, 
Leaves, stems, aiid MlOW ORS sis Se eee te ee Se eS Lag aie ee “eee au See 2. 939 
Leaves, stems, TOWELS +211 CUS peer eget ee epee eee ree ee AGH ee as Se Piece seo srs 
Leaves, stems, flowers, and bulbs.........-..:....---- Bio eee AL Ramee yea ager Somes 2.373 - 
1 Fed. 
Table 11 shows those cases which received similar material. It is 
impossible, of course, to determine from a table of this character the 
relative toxicity of the plants with any degree of exactness. It ap- 
pears, however, that, put in a general way, Z. gramineus is three 
times as toxic as Z. paniculatus, and seven times as toxic as Z. elegans. 
It is interesting to note that, so far as the experiments are concerned, 
the toxicity of the seed of Z. gramineus and Z. paniculatus is practi- 
cally the same. 
COMPARATIVE TOXICITY OF FRUIT AND SEEDS OF Z. PANICULATUS AND Z. ELEGANS. | 
Ripe fruit heads of both Z. paniculatus and Z. elegans were col- 
lected and the seed separated from the pods and weighed. In both 
species it was found that very close to-one-half of the dry weight was 
‘seed. In one collection of nearly ripe Z. elegans the fruit heads were 
weighed separately from the rest of the plant and found to be 23.4 
per cent of the entire plant exclusive of the bulbs and roots. From 
this it appears that in Z. elegans close to 11.7 per cent of the weight 
of mature air-dried plant is seed. | 
The comparative toxicity of fruit heads and seed of Z. paniculatus 
shows that most of the toxic element of the fruit heads is in the seed. 
Sheep 569 was made very sick on 0.661 pound of green fruit heads, a 
sample of which lost 77 per cent in drying. This, then, was equiva- 
lent to 0.152 pound of dry material. Sheep 609 was made sick on 
0.124 pound of dry fruit heads. Sheep 583 was made very sick on 
