THE BREEDING SEASON 



61 



61. Examples of superf oetation. The literature of 

 animal-breeding is singularly lacking in records of au- 

 thentic cases of superfoetation. The writer has through 

 many years collected evidence of such cases in the mule- 

 breeding districts of Missouri, and a few of these are 

 recorded here : 



"W. E. Carmichael of Shelbyville, Missouri, bred a 

 mare to a stallion and thirty days later to a jack. At 



FIG. 11. Normal and usual anterior presentation in mare. 



the end of the normal period of gestation the mare gave 

 birth to twins, one a mule and the other a horse colt. 

 They were both dead at birth." 1 



A nine^year-old mare belonging to Eugene Rhodes of 

 Fairfax, Missouri, was bred to a stallion in May. In 

 August she showed unmistakable signs of heat and was 

 mated. with a jack. In the month of January following 

 she gave birth to a perfectly formed mule colt and a 



1 Mumford, "Amer. Cyclopedia of Agriculture," vol. Ill, 

 p. 31. 



