Asexual and Bisexual Aberrations 1 55 



The vulva of the neuter frequently shows at birth a highly 

 marked tuft of vulvar hairs, strongly suggestive of the pre- 

 putial tuft of the bull. In the typical neuter no sexual de- 

 sire develops: there is no estrum. The head and neck fail 

 to develop that fineness of lines characteristic of the heifer 

 and the body is generally somewhat gross. It has been 

 stated that the head and neck are like those of the bull, but 

 I have been unable to verify this. To me they seem more 

 like those of a steer — a surgically made neuter. The horns 

 are rather gross, straight, and thick. 



As soon as the rectum of the animal is large enough to 

 admit the operator's hand, a reliable diagnosis is available. 

 Upon rectal palpation, the urinary bladder is prominent, as 

 in the bull ; there is no vagina or cervix, but instead there 

 are two hard, fibrous cords the size of lead pencils or 

 smaller, sometimes so closely bound together that they feel 

 as one. In other cases careful palpation may identify all 

 four cords, Wolffian and Muellerian ducts. The length of 

 these cords varies greatly. Sometimes they are as long as 

 a normal genital tract; sometimes very short and blunt. 

 Frequently they end anteriorly in cystic dilations given off 

 at almost Aght angles. Beyond the ends of these dilations, 

 the operator may or may not be able to distinguish the un- 

 differentiated tiny sex glands. In typical cases, the diag- 

 nosis is easy, and fortunately most cases are typical. In 

 some of the atypical cases, where the sex development has 

 progressed to a considerable degree, the diagnosis may prove 

 very difficult. Confusion is most probable in those cases 

 where a large proportion or all of the uterine horns and body 

 have become excavated but the cervix remains imperforate. 

 The uterus and horns are then distended with lymph, sim- 

 ulating pregnancy. As a rule, however, the examiner can 

 recognize by palpation some fundamental defect in vagina, 

 cervix, or ovaries which will make the diagnosis clear. The 

 character of the distension itself, as I have observed it, 

 serves readily to differentiate the condition from preg- 

 nancy. The uterus is flaccid and the contents mobile. The 

 horns are irregularly distended, broad at one point and 



