OF NATURAL HISTORY. 24i^ 



< free martin,' fays Mr. Hunter, < is fimilar to that of an ox, 



< having more refemblance to that of the cow than of the 



* buU. Free martins are very fufceptible of growing fat 



< with food. The flefli, hke that of the ox, or fpayed heifer, 



< is in common much finer in the fibre than either the bull 



< or cow, and is fuppofed to exceed that of the ox or heifer* 



< in dehcacy of flavour, and bears a higher price at market*.* 

 The Romans feem to have had fome knowledge of free mar- 

 tins, though they have not tranfmitted to us any peculiari- 

 ties in the ftrufture of thefe animals. With them, taurus 

 was the generic name of the ox kind. They likewife men- 

 tion taurae^ by which, it is thought, they meant barren cows. 

 Columella, when talking of cattle, fays, < and, like the tau- 



< rae^ which occupy the place oi fertile cows, fhould be reject- 

 ^ ed f .' Varro likewife informs us, that * the cow which is 

 ^ barren is called taura^ 



Mr. Hunter gives an anatomical defcription of three free 

 martins, the moft perfe(St of which we {hall tranfcribe. 



< Mr, Arbtithnofs Free Martini. 

 < The external parts were rather fmaller than in the cow. 



< The vagina pafled on, as in the cow, to the opening of the 



* urethra, and then it began to contract into a fmall canal, 



* which pafl^ed on to the divifion of the uterus into two horns -, 



* each horn palTed along the edge of the broad ligament lat- 



* erally towards the ovaria. At the termination of thefe 



* horns were placed both the ovaria and the tefticles j both 



* were nearly of the fam^e fize, which was about as large as a 



< fmall nutmaCg. To the ovaria I could not find any Fallo- 



« pian tube. To the teflicles were vafa deferentia •, but they 



* Hunter's Obfervations on the Animal Oeconomy, p. 50. f Columella, 

 lib. 6. chap. 22. 



X ' This animal was feven years old, had been often yoked with the oxen, 



* at other times went with the cows and bull, but never {hov/ed any defirer. 



* fpr either the one or the other. ' 



