56 BREEDING. 



clictatorially decisive, more than tlie sjeneral 

 assertion of their going chven months ( >r the 

 coniuion witticism, that '' a hiue and a mare 

 or.) a fwelveinonth :'') but whether it is uiider- 

 s'ojd eleven lunar or cakndar months, I be- 

 lijve has never been crili aily explaine^i (at 

 least gerierally known) : and ihi-^ is in ftiet the 

 m ne extraordinary, when we recollect that 

 eleven calendar months make within two days 

 of tzcelve of the ether; nor indeed an* there 

 but few instances in which tiie knowledge of 

 such nice distinction can be productive of 

 much utihty ; yet it creates some surprize 

 that it lias not been particuiaiiy noticed by 

 successive naturahsts, as circunrstances have 

 arisen and may sometimes happen, where 

 such precision would effectually remove a 

 doubt or estabHsh a fact. 



A want of eaily attention to a discovery of 

 this minutia was attended with a tritiing loss 

 to me some years since in my first breeding 

 embarkation, when in possession of much less 

 observation and experience ; for, having ob- 

 tained the loan of a strong- bonv mare from 

 a friend in Windsor Great Park, for the purr 

 pose of breednig, I had her covered by a large 



