NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 75 



Common assertion fixes the period of gestation, or the time 

 intervening between conception and foaling, at eleven montha j 

 whether lunar or calendar, is not explained. This discrepancy 

 will appear the more unsatisfactory, when it is recollected tha^i 

 eleven calendar months want but two days of twelve lunai 

 months. By various investigations made in France, it has been 

 established that the term of eleven calendar months was often 

 exceeded by several weeks ; and sometimes, though less fre- 

 quently, parturition took place within that period. Some 

 breeders entertain an opinion, that old brood-mares carry the 

 foal considerably longer than young ones ; but no satisfactory 

 evidence is offered by them in support of this opinion. 



The indications of approaching parturition are enlargement 

 of the external parts of generation, and a gummy exudation 

 from the orifice of the teats. Birth generally takes place 

 within twenty-four hours after the appearance of the latter 

 symptom; but the first acts as a warning, by preceding it for 

 several days. It is but seldom that the mare requires manual 

 assistance at the time of foaling, which generally takes place, 

 without diificulty or danger in the night. The mare, unlike the 

 generality of quadrupeds, foals standing. She rarely produces 

 twins, and when double births do occur, the offspring almost 

 invariably die. 



As great facility of motion appears to have been designed by 

 nature in the formation of the horse, many physical peculiarities 

 contribute to insure that end. A bulky, pendulous udder, like 

 that possessed by some of the ruminantia, would be incom- 

 patible with that quality. The mamma, therefore, is small, and 

 furnished with only two teats, which supply a milk of a highly 



