50 THE TEMPORARY 



ready before the corners are shed. However, during 

 the shedding periods, particularly that of the central 

 teeth, foals experience more or less difficulty in graz- 

 ing ; but if they are given a moderate quantity of soft, 

 green food, their health will not be impaired, nor will 

 they lose much flesh. 



The central incisors are shed when the foal is about 

 two years and a half old, the dividers at three and 

 a half or four, and the corners at four and a half or 

 five. 



The molars, which Prof. Eichard Owen says sooner 

 begin to develop roots than the permanent, are shed 

 with even less inconvenience to the foal than the in- 

 cisors. The fourth grinder, the first permanent tooth 

 cut, is ready for use before the first temporary molar 

 is shed, and the fifth and sixth are ready before the 

 second and third are shed. The time of shedding the 

 twelve teeth varies somewhat, and the falling off of 

 the "caps" of the uppers will precede those of the 

 lower teeth several weeks. The caps are all that is 

 left of the temporary molars, their roots and perhaps 

 a small part of their bodies having been absorbed by 

 the permanent. In most cases fully four-fifths of 

 the crowns are worn off by attrition. Thus, when 

 Nature is let alone, the temporary teeth are absorbed 

 rather than shed; but when a shell is loose and in the 

 way, it does no harm to remove it. The first molar is 

 shed about the end of the second year, the second 

 about the end of the third, and the third about the 

 end of the fourth. 



Surgeon W. A. Cherry says that the shedding of the 

 teeth usually occurs in the Spring. There is, he says, 

 a sufficient interval of time between the shedding of 

 the upper and lower molars for the new teeth in the 



