44 



Dentition as indicative of the Age 



to defcermine whether or not an animal were under or above 

 the ag3 of five, and as the years increase the difficulty of judg- 

 ing the age by the appearance of the teeth is not diminished. It 

 is not usually a matter of much importance to decide whether 

 an ox is six years old or seven, and there are no well defined 

 marks in the teeth which justify the examiner in giving an 



Fig. iO.— Incisors of Ox at ten ■years. 



opinion as to the exact age which the animal has reached. Some 

 evidence is afforded by the horns, which, although not perfectly 

 reliable, may aid the expert in forming an opinion. The recog- 

 nised rule is to add two to the number of rings at the base of the 

 horn, the total representing the number of years of the animal's 

 life. The teeth become narrower and more widely separated 



