336 



whereby fine stallion asses ceaseJ to possess their 

 former vakie. 



The tushes, popularly known as canine teeth, are 

 no certain guides in determining the age of horses. 

 They generally appear about three years of age, but 

 occasionally they do not develop until five and six 

 years have been reached. These irregularities are 

 probably due to constitutional changes, and to a 

 certain extent to the early feeding of colts ; well- 

 grown colts generally produce tushes sooner than 

 ill-thriven colts, so that feeding influences the develop- 

 ment of the teeth just as it promotes physical growth 

 generally. Mares are generally devoid of tushes, 

 although in some instances they appear in a rudi- 

 mentary, or modified, form. It is said that mares 

 possessing tushes do not breed, but this is not correct, 

 as the writer knew a mare with fairly well developed 

 tushes that bore five foals in regular consecutive years 

 after she had attained the age of sixteen ; indeed, 

 it is inconceivable tliat the presence or absence of 

 tushes can have any influence on the breeding cap- 

 acity of mares. The mare above mentioned had an 

 additional peculiarity — a very much more extraordin- 

 ary one — being devoid of warts (callosities) on the 

 hind legs. Warts vary in size in different breeds 

 and in different animals, and although the writer has 

 heard of horses without them, the instance mentioned 

 is the only one that has come under direct observa- 

 tion. This may have been a case of reversion to a 

 remote ancestor, because it is held by some zoologists 



