FECUNDITY. 133 



fecundity and longevity : " For about ten years this 

 prolific mother produced two litters in the year, of 

 about ten at a time, and once above twenty at a litter ; 

 but as there were near double the number of pigs to 

 that of teats, many died. ... At the age of about 

 fifteen, her litters began to be reduced to four or five, 

 and such a litter she exhibited when in her fatting- 

 pen. ... At a moderate computation, she was al- 

 lowed to have been the fruitful parent of three hun- 

 dred pigs a prodigious instance of fecundity in so 

 large a quadruped. She was killed in the spring of 

 1775, when seventeen years old." * 



A remarkable instance of multiple births is re- 

 ported in the Prairie Farmer, on the authority of 

 the London Live-Stock Journal, as follows : "In the 

 neighborhood of Hohenmath, Bavaria, a cow has re- 

 cently been delivered of five calves at a birth. All 

 of them were born dead, and the mother succumbed 

 a few days later. The calves weighed sixteen, seven- 

 teen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty pounds, respec- 

 tively, and were all of the same color." a 



Dr. Simpson states that he has obtained authentic 

 information in regard to forty-two married women 

 who were " born as twins with males," and thirty-six 

 of the number had children. " Two of the females 

 who have families were each born as a triplet with 

 two males." 8 



1 "Natural History of Selborne," p. 222. "The Hog," by Youatt, 

 p. 154. 



2 Prairie Farmer, December 8, 1877, p. 389. These cases are, 

 perhaps, not all attributable to heredity. For additional cases of in? 

 herited fecundity, see p. 16. 



8 * Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology," vol. i., p. 736. 



