Hermaphroditism 157 



Forensically, if the animal has been sold as a female, the 

 recognition of its asexual character arouses a suspicion of 

 fraud, but by no means proves it because, as previously 

 stated, single births are sometimes neuters, though possibly 

 due to twin conception, the other twin having perished and 

 been absorbed. Ethically, however, the result is the same. 

 The animal is not a heifer or a female. Accordingly it has 

 been sold for what it is not. If the purchaser has paid for 

 a breeding female, he is ethically entitled to reimbursement. 



2. Hermaphroditism 



Hermaphroditism, in which organs of both sexes are 

 found in one individual, is observed in all domestic animals. 

 Some have claimed that freemartins, or what I have desig- 

 nated as "neuters", are in fact a type of hermaphrodite, 

 but with this view I am unable to agree. Neuters, as they 

 grade up toward sexuality, tend always toward the female 

 — never toward the male or toward both. Hermaphrodites 

 incline to assume prevailing types according to species. 



In the horse, hermaphroditism tends generally toward 

 the development of testicles which are largely retained 

 within the abdomen and attached and located the same as 

 the ovaries, but may descend into an imperfect scrotum. 

 The vulva, vagina, and uterus may develop almost per- 

 fectly, as in one case occurring in my clinic where the vulva 

 and vagina were sufficiently developed that I castrated the 

 animal through the vagina in the same manner as mares are 

 spayed. The rudimentary penis, or enlarged clitoris, usu- 

 ally ends either in the vulva or in the vicinity of the ischial 

 arch, with the urethral opening directed backward. Some- 

 times it is directed backward at its extremity. The mam- 

 mae are usually moderately developed and upon casual ex- 

 amination, have the appearance of those of the mare. In 

 one case upon which I operated there were, just above these 

 rudimentary glands, small scrotal pouches containing the 

 imperfectly developed testes. 



These animals present chiefly the characters of the crypt- 

 orchid horse with all his deranged sexual desire and ten- 



