False Copulation 211 



trum when she is not. Perhaps she has been in estrum an 

 hour or two before and the owner or person in charge be- 

 lieves it best to use forcible restraint in order that copula- 

 tion may occur. Some, erroneously believing that, when 

 estrum fails to appear at the expected date, it may be 

 brought about by rape, proceed to force coitus. Coition is 

 safe only when estrum is present in the proper degree. The 

 mare has ample power to close the vulva against the ready 

 entrance of the penis, thus causing it to glide upward and 

 forward against and into the anus, which opening may be 

 more readily forced. 



The accident is also invited in aged cows or mares with 

 pendulous abdomen in which the tension upon the rectum 

 draws the anus and superior commissure of the vulva down- 

 ward and forward, thereby causing the vulvar opening to 

 approach the horizontal instead of the perpendicular. The 

 penis then tends to glide forward and slightly upward over 

 the oblique vulvar opening, to strike against the inferior 

 surface of the tail and become deflected into the anus. It 

 may be purely accidental. Harms thinks it may result from 

 smallness of the female. All cases I have observed have 

 been in mares of medium or large size. 



The extent of the injury varies. Apparently, the acci- 

 dent may cause little or no injury in some cases, though, of 

 those which are brought to the attention of the veterinarian, 

 a large proportion are fatal. The extent of the lesions will 

 vary according to the size of the penis, the violence of the 

 copulatory act, and the quantity and character of the feces 

 in the posterior portion of the rectum. Should the rectum 

 be quite empty or filled only with pultaceous feces, as in a 

 cow, or in a mare on green food, the penis may force its 

 way along in the bowel unless it is caught in the folds. If 

 the rectum is impacted with dry feces, as is usually the case 

 in the mare, the penis is deflected and tends to pass through 

 the rectal walls. The rupture may occur either into the 

 peritoneal cavity or into the periproctal connective tissue. 

 In the former case, in the mare, the opening is so great that 

 feces drop at once into the peritoneal cavity and cause pro- 



