156 OBSTETRICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



a Cow, a splendid animal, of the cross breed, which had twin Calves yearly for six suc- 

 cessive years. Two of her female progeny have had twin Calves repeatedly. Mr. Low 

 kept one of her male twins, a Bull ; to him two Cows have had tvdn calves, and there 

 are a number of Cows in calf to him just now. From this and other similar cases, I think 

 there is no doubt but, by proper selection and management, a race of twin-bearing cattle 

 might be established." And again he says : — " From a paper now lying before me. I shall 

 record what I believe to be a unique cae of a calf-producing Cow. I am indebted for 

 the particulars to Mr. James Stephen, Balfluig Cottage, Alford. ' Memorandum regai-d- 

 ing a small Cow of the black Polled breed, which belonged to the late Mr. Alexander 

 Stephen, Farmton, Alford : — 



Year. Xumber of Calves at a birth. 



1842 1— first Calf. 



1843 ... ... ... 3 — came to maturity. 



1843 ... ... ... 4 — one died ; seven in one year. 



1844 ... ... ... 2 — came to maturity. 



1845 ... ... ... 3 — came to maturity. 



1846 ... ... ... 6 — died prematurely. 



1847 ... ... ... 2 — came to maturity. 



1848 4.'" 



Eueff says that, with the Simmenthalei- breed of cattle at Hohen- 

 heim, during an interval of ten years, there were four per cent, twin 

 births. 



Triple gestation is of course much more uncommon, but the instances 

 on record are numerous. 



Dupuy mentions a very unusual instance of fecundity in a Cow which, at three birth.< 

 in successive years— 1817, 1818, and 1819— brought forth nine Calves, only two of which 

 were not reared by the mother ; these Calves afterwards had only one offspring at each 

 birth. Rainard speaks of one of his pupils delivering a Cow of three Calves in the 

 neighbourhood of Lyons ; and Roche-Lubin gives two similar instances. In one of these 

 the first two Calves were born alive and reared by their mother, but the third, which wa^i 

 in a bad position, was removed dead six days later. In the second instance, the Cow, 

 after producing a living and properly-developed Calf, continued to strain and make fruit- 

 less efforts to get rid of the other foetuses, until she died five days afterwards, when two 

 Calves attached to each other by the sternum were found in the uterus. Sperling records 

 the case of a Dutch Cow which produced three Calves ; the first was a male, the second 

 a heifer, and the third a heifer in a wrong position. In England Mr. Snowdon has seen 

 a Cow which brought forth a living Calf some hours after a dead one, and in a few minutes 

 an anidian monster. 



In the Ip-'iwich Journal for October, 1875, mention is made of a Cow which produced 

 six Calves in twenty months, all living : first three fine Calves, then one, and again two. 



The Liverpool Mercury (April 9, 1847) mentions a Cow which produced sixteen Calves 

 in eight years— two Calves at six births, three at one birth, and one at another birth. The 

 Mark Lane Express (May 11, 1852) alludes to a Cow which brought forth three Calves at 

 a birth — making eleven calves before she was seven years old. A similar instance is 

 reported in the Hartford Times of Connecticut for 1881. The Cow was a three-fourths 

 Durham. On April 16, 1877, she gave birth to twins, one male and one female ; 

 March 19, 1878, she gave birth to triplets, two male and one female, making five Calves 

 in eleven months and three days ; July 9, 1879, she gave birth to twins, both males ; 

 October 7, 1880, she gave birth to triplets, two males and one female, making ten Calves 

 in the three years five months and twenty-one days. The Calves were all of good size, 

 healthy and handsome, and were raised on the farm. 



In 1888, a Cow at Braceborough, Stamford, gave birth to twins. Her former yearly 

 calvings were twins, a .single one, a single one, twins, triplets, and then the above- 

 mentioned twins. 



The Chester Chronicle (February 18, 1865) reports the birth of three full-sized Calves 

 by a Cow, all of which did well ; and the Shrewsbury Chronicle (July 5, 1844) gives a 

 similar instance, but the Calves, born during the night, were found dead in the morning. 

 In the Eield for June 17, 1876, the birth of three Calves— a Bull and two Cows— i.s. 

 reported. They were alive and doing well. 



Quadrigemellar gestation is also sometimes observed in the Cow. 



