GESTATION. 147 



was found. Mr. Litt, of Shrewsbury, in the same journal gives the particulars of the case 

 of a Cow which died within a fortnight of calving, and on being opened no fewer than 

 five fully-developed calves were found in the uterus. They were nearly uniform in size, 

 and with the exception of one, which was rather emaciated, they were in a remarkably 

 well-nourished condition. They consisted of four females and a male, and were very 

 little smaller than ordinary calves at birth, being about the usual size of twins. Mr. 

 Litt was of opinion that, had they been born at the proper time, they would have lived. 

 The Cow had not thriven so well as its companions for some time, but up to the morn- 

 ing of the day previous to decease, it appeared to be in perfect health. Death was 

 probably due to the excessive drain upon the animal's system produced by so many 

 voung. 



Schumann, in 1854, reports a quintuple birth — all males, and dead-born. Rueff re- 

 cords another, in which all the calves lived — and one which occurred at Havingen, in a 

 five-year-old Cow. Baron also refers to a similar instance. Mr. Garrard, of Ticknall, 

 however, has a more favorable report of a birth of this kind. In 1854 a Cow gave birth 

 to five living healthy calves, all of which were, when he wrote (a week after birth), alive 

 and vigorous, and likely to continue so. They were nearly all of one size, and larger 

 and stronger than could be supposed. Four were bull-calves. The Cow, by no means 

 a large one, was eleven years old and of a mongrel breed, and had never produced more 

 than one calf at previous gestations. She did not manifest any unusual symptoms of 

 exhaustion ; the first four calves presented naturally ; the fifth was a breech presenta- 

 tion. 



Kurds speaks of a Cow which aborted seven foetuses ; while Kleinschmeid {Magazin 

 fiir Thierheilku7tdc. 1857) mentions having found fifteen embryos in the uterus of an 

 animal of this species ! 



Sheep. 



With the Sheep, twins are a very common occurrence ; and it is a say- 

 ing that in a good flock there should be as many lambs as Ewes, the double 

 births compensating for the losses. Instances of extraordinary fecundity 

 are also by no means rare, and would appear to pertain to particular 

 breeds. Daubenton states that, in the counties of JuUiers and Cleves, 

 every Sheep brings forth two or three lambs twice a year — five Sheep 

 producing twenty-five lambs in twelve months. In French Flanders, 

 according to Magne, who cites Corneille as his authority, there is a very 

 prolific breed of Sheep, each ordinarily producing three, sometimes four, 

 five, and six, rarely seven lambs, at two births during the year. Tessier, 

 speaking of this breed, while admitting that twin lambs are not an ordi- 

 nary occurrence with Sheep, assures us that in a flock composed of 371 

 Ewes, there were 22 double births ; and he mentions having seen a Sheep 

 that was twenty years old, which had bred every year. A Ewe at Hohen- 

 heim, in 1845, brought forth one lamb, the first ; in 1846, two ; in 1847, 

 five ; in 1848, four; 1849, three; 1850, two — in all seventeen lambs at 

 six births. Four of these were males, and thirteen females. 



In England such fecundity is not very uncommon. 



For instance, in the Chamber of Agriauture Joiirnaliox March, 1871, there is a notice 

 of extraordinary prolificacy related by Mr. Angus, of Lowthorpe, Hull, who says : — 

 " Last year one of my Ewes of the Lincoln breed brought forth six lambs, all living. I 

 had great difficulty in persuading my neighbors to believe this, although the fact was 

 quite clear and we'll attested. I gave her a private ear-mark, and last Michaelmas a 

 separate red mark also. As we saw this spring that she was getting heavy, we kept her 

 quite separate from the rest of the Ewes, and last Thursday she produced another six 

 lambs. Some of these will not survive, as they were a few days before their proper 

 time ; but all are complete and well formed, and the Ewe is now suckling one lamb." 

 " The especial wonder about this woolly mother," adds the editor of the journal, " is 

 that she belongs to a breed in which it is rare for a Ewe to drop more than three lambs, 

 while good luck among the Lincoln flocks is ' one-half pairs,' with occasionally a three." 



The Carmarthen Jourttal (March, 1844) alludes to four Ewes in that county, which 

 in one week yeaned fourteen lambs ; one had five lambs, and these all did well. The 

 Chester Chronicle (May 25, 1867) mentions that a little Welsh Ewe at Birkenhead had 



