LG8 THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. '"u. VI. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



1. THE cow is impregnated with a single act of coition, 

 and the bull mounts upon her with such violence that she 

 bands beneath his weight. If he fails to impregnate her 

 after twenty days, she is again admitted to the bull. Old 

 bulls will not mount the same cow several times in the 

 same day unless there is some intermission, but young bulls, 

 incited by the strength of their desires, will force the same 

 cow several times, and will mount upon many in succession. 

 The bull is one of the least lascivious of animals. The 

 conqueror copulates with the female, but if he become im- 

 potent from frequent sexual intercourse, the inferior will 

 attack him, and often prevail. 



2. Both the male and the female commence sexual inter- 

 course, so as to produce young, at a year old, though not 

 generally till they are a year and eight months old, or two 

 years old according to general agreement. The female is 

 pregnant nine months, and produces her young in the tenth 

 month ; some persons affirm that parturition takes place at 

 ten months to a day ; if any of them calve before the above 

 mentioned time, the calf is abortive and does not live, and 

 even if born a little before the proper time it cannot live, 

 for the hoofs are imperfect. The female generally produces 

 one at a time, sometimes two. She continues to bear and 

 to have sexual intercourse as long as she lives. 



3. The female usually lives fifteen years, and so does 

 the male if he is not castrated ; some live for more than 

 twenty years if they have an active body. They usually 

 place castrated oxen as leaders of the herd, as they do in 

 sheep, and these live longer than the others, for they do 

 no work, and feed in a superior pasture. They attain per- 

 fection at five years old, wherefore some say that Homer 

 was right when he spoke of the male flourishing at five 

 years old, and the cow at nine years old, for both expres- 

 sions have the same meaning. 



4. Oxen change their teeth at two years old, not all of them, 

 however, but only like the horse ; they do not cast their hoofs 

 when they are lame, but only swell very much about the 

 feet. The milk is good immediately after calving, but the 

 cow has no milk beforehand. The milk which is first formed 



