EXCESS OF LENGTH OF INCISORS OF LOWER JAW. 



139 



ments of the lips ; the elongated teeth also render less the maxi- 

 mum extent to which the incisors can open than in a normal 

 mouth ; the latter can usually open 2i inches, or a little more, 

 while in certain parrot-mouths the space between the open in- 

 cisors is only IJ to IJ inches. The beveled and distorted tables 

 of the incisors in a parrot-mouth render the determination of 

 age, for these, practically impossible. The judgment of age 

 may be based upon the relative characters, as to the inclination 

 of the teeth, their color, their size, and what one supposes would 

 be their tables were they cut to their proper length. It 

 frequently happens that a parrot-mouth so interferes with mas- 

 tication, on the part of the animal, that it becomes necessary 

 to resort to operative measures with the saw and file to give 

 the animal a normal mouth. This operation not only relieves 

 the animal, but restores it to the appearance of its approximate 

 age, and does not enter into the category of fraudulent measures. 



EXCESS OF LENGTH OF THE INCISORS OF THE LOWER JAW. 



A condition which might be called a reversed parrot- 

 mouth is sometimes seen, which seems to be caused by a slight 



Fig. 147. 



