SUPEKFCETA Tl<>\. 1 7 r 



suffering any ill effeoU. The first Kiml had the tongue protruding from the mouth, tht* 

 mucous meutbraneH were very pale, the liair of lx>dy and mane and tail were pre.sent, the 

 eyes were closed, the skin was colourless and lookiug as if macerated, and the hair was 

 easily removed ; the bloodvessels only contained a few dn)ps of pale blood ; aiul the 

 muscles, pale and Haccid, did not show any signs of deconii)osition. The second Foal 

 had the skin smooth and shining, but no trace of hair ; the eyes were open ; the mucous 

 membrane bright red ; the muscles tiini and red ; and the lieart and vessels tilled witli 

 red blood. 



Cauzit, in the yoKnta/ dt Mr'd. Viteriimire de Lyon for 1859, gives an instance of 

 superfietation in a Mare, fecundation having occurred at an interval of eight days ; and 

 Chabaud, in the Journal tits \\t. tin Midi for IS")!', mentions another case, in which 

 fecundation must have occurred at fifteen days' interval. 



An instance is reported from the United States of America. On tlie "iOth of February, 

 1876, a five-year-old Mare belonging to William Driesbach, of Sparta, N.Y., foaled a 

 dead Ci>lt, fully developed and otherwise promising in those points which go to make \\\y 

 a good Horse. The Mare appeared to be well, and tti the siirprise of her owner, on the 

 2nd of April following, six weeks after the birth of her Foal, gave birth to another Colt, 

 which was sound, healthy, well developed, and in all respects as promising a colt as could 

 be found in the State. 



In the Joiirnal Vtltrinaire Pnttique for 1828, there is an instance given of what was 

 supposed to be superfietation. A fine-woolled Kwe, impregnated at the usual season in 

 1S"23, evinced in the following year, at the period of parturition, the ordinary signs of 

 giving birth ; but these subsided without any produce being born, and the animal ipiite 

 recovered. The foetus was in the abdomen, and could be easily felt. In 18'24, this Kwe 

 was again impregnated ; in the early days of March, 1S25, the niamnue contained milk, 

 and soon after the symptoms of parturition became manifest ; but, as before, they dis- 

 apjK'ared without any result. The animal then lost condition, became grailually weaker, 

 and was not long in succumbing. On opening it, a perfectly developed Lamb was found 

 in the right horn of the uterus, and in the left another well-formed fti-tus of the male sex 

 was discovered. The latter, with its envelopes, as well as the uterine cavity, were normal, 

 except that a jwrtion of the fluid had escaped and the f<etus was dead ; the cervix uteri, 

 however, was constricted by the presence of a newly-formed mass of matter, which was 

 so hard that it could scarcely be cut through — a circumstance that appeared to explain 

 the impossibility of delivery. 



Hering {lieperf. t'iir T/iitr/itlUcnnth, .Tahrgang ix., p. 1) alludes to instances of super- 

 fietation in the Cow and Sheep. An Knglish breeder recently reported a remarkable case 

 of sujierfietation in the Cow, as follows : — " I have a Cow that on August !• last had a 

 Heifer Calf, apparently at full time ; indeed, so fine a one that I am rearing it. The Cow 

 niilktd well for about a month, and then suddenly lessened the i|uanlity, and shortly 

 c-ased to give any. On September 2*5 she took the Bull, and from that time I noticed 

 nothing unustial with her, though constantly seeing her, »intil December 24, when she 

 had another Calf, a Bull, strong and fullsi/.ed, and certainly not premat>ire. The ('alf is 

 ni'W alive and doing well, and the mother is giving as much milk as after any of her 

 previous calvinga. She was running with a Bull during la-st .March and until .•\i>iil 2.'>, 

 when the Bull was castrated, and she coidd not have had access to any other tintil 

 Septemlier 2'J, when she was seen to be in season and sent to a neiglibonr's Bull and 

 served. 



From the facts already accumulated it may, then, he concluded that 

 superfcctation in the Mare may occur, and indeed has occurred, several 

 times. It has heen argued against these facts that suj)erfa'tation is 

 impossible, because a Mare that has once conceived would be exceed- 

 ingly liable to abortion if submitted to a second service ; but it is more 

 than doubtful that abortion should be the inevital)le consequence of re- 

 peated copulation ; and we have the human species to adduce in })roof 

 of the comparative innocuousness of sexual intercourse during pregnancy. 

 So far as researches have gone, however, it must be confessed that these 

 double conceptions have only occurred in uniparous animals by suc- 

 cessive copulations on the same day, or within a few days ; and we 

 are therefore without any indication that this could occur in them at 

 longer intervals. This, it will be evident, is no very strong proof 

 of superfcctation having taken place ; for in the case of the Mule and 

 Horse Foal, it only proves that a double conception may occur from 



