nEMELLIPAliUi-S AXI> .WrLTH:l/;nfs J'J:Jy;.\.l\r)\ 101 



nated at a siii^'le copulation, unci brin-,' forth suvcral youn^'. yet, as a 

 rule, they are fecundated more than once, and in fact do not cease to 

 seek the male until after several copulations. And yet, even in these 

 creatures, there are instances of extraordinary fecundity often recorded. 

 With rej^ard to the Sow, for example, I have notes of a case in which 

 24 young were produced, but the mother died soon after ; another case 

 in which a Sow brought forth 48 in two succeeding litters — 22 in the 

 first and 21 in the second ; and another case of a Sow that had 21 

 living Pigs in a litter, she having tlien produced more than eighty young 

 in less than two years. Then with respect to the liitch, I have the 

 record of a St. Bernard's that gave birth to 17 Puppies in one litter, and 

 in the succeeding litter tliere were 23. 



In these cases of multiple gestation in creatures naturally uniparous, 

 one of the fetuses occupies the ordinary situation of single gestation — ■ 

 the head towards the cervix uteri, the larger portion of the trunk in the 

 body of the uterus, and the hind (juarters and limbs in one of the coruua. 

 The second fo'tus occupies the whole of the other cornu ; with the head 

 turned back, or, as occurs not infrequently, in the opposite direction, 

 and so on. 



The duration of gestation in these cases is generally shorter than that 

 of single pregnancy in the same animal, probably in consequence of the 

 unusual distention, as well as derangement of the principal functions in 

 the mother. The weight of the young, individually, is usually less than 

 the average ; but, collectively, it may be very much greater than that of 

 one young creature produced at a birth. Thus, in the quadruple birth 

 recorded by Magdinier each fcutus weighed ten to eleven kilogrammes; 

 in that by 13ouchard tliey only weighed from eight to nine kilogrammes; 

 in the quintuple birth descrilied by Cassina, each calf weighed seventeen 

 kilogrammes, or eighty-five for the entire birth— an enormous weight. 

 Lignatia, another Italian veterinary surgeon, mentions that in a double 

 birth in a Cow, one of the Calves which was born dead, though at full 

 time, weighed twenty kilogrammes ; and the other Calf, which was 

 alive, weighed forty-three. In the double birth observed at Saulsaie, in 

 which both Calves were born alive, one was twenty-eight kilogrammes 

 and the other thirty-one. 



Free-martins. 



A curious fact in connection with this subject in the Bovine species, 

 is that when the young are of both sexes, the female is in general 

 unproductive. John Hunter drew special attention to this subject/ 

 which has since received the notice of many veterinaiy surgeons and 

 agriculturists. Though the anomaly has been particularly remarked in 

 Bovine animals, yet some authorities assert that it also pertains to Soli- 

 peds, but it would seem that the Ovine species is exempt. Even of the 



' " It ia a fact known, and I believe almost universally underHtood, that when a Cow 

 brings forth two Cnlve-i, one of them a I'ull-calf and the other to appearance a Cow, that 

 the Cow-calf is unfit for propagation, but the I'.ull calf grows into a very pro]Hr Bull. 

 Such a Cow-calf is called in this country a Free-martin, and is commonly xs well known 

 amon|;r the farmers as either Cow or Bull. It ha« all the external marks of a Cowcalf 

 namely, the teats, and the external female parts, called by farmers the bearing. It does 

 not show the least inclination for the Bull, nor does the Bull ever take the least notice of 

 it. In form it very much resemblea the Ox or ipayed Heiftr, being considerably larger 

 than either the Bull or the Cow, having the h'>m4 very similar to the horni of an Ox. 

 The bellow of the Free martin is similar to that of an Ox. having more resemblance to 

 that of the Cow than that of the Bull." — Ob'iirvationj* on the Animal Economy. 



11 



