568 MR. E. I. POCOCK ON THE BREEDING [May 15, 



bi-eecl from the commencement. I have therefore no facts what- 

 ever that can throw any light on the question of the length of 

 gestation. 



Altogether, I have had five Rhesus Monkeys born in captivity, 

 four of them apparently at full time and the fifth prematurely. 

 I have also had several other mothers which gave birth to young 

 within six days of arrival. 



The following facts are only ones on which I can speak with 

 certainty from my own observations. 



The signs of pregnancy in the female are not easy to recognise. 

 I have purchased several under the impression that they were 

 with young, and on subsequent post-mortem examination found 

 no sign. Those females that were really pregnant showed con- 

 siderable enlargement and prominence of the abdomen. The 

 breasts were swollen, but in only one case could I detect any 

 areola round the nipple, and this may of course have been normal. 

 The pregnant animals appeared to be just as active as the others. 



There was in all cases a veiy large amount of liquor amnii. 



Unfortunately, I never saw the actual delivery of the young. 

 In one case I could fix the time within 15 minutes, in the other 

 1 did not see the young ones till from two to three hours after 

 birth. 



I do not know how the mother separates the umbilical cord, but 

 1 suppose it is by biting. Examination of the abdominal end of 

 the cord showed a condition that would have been caused by a 

 clean bite rather than a tear. I have no doubt that the mother 

 eats the placenta. 1 could never find a trace of it, even in the 

 case that I saw within a quarter of an hour of delivery. 



In the one case where the young was born apparently before 

 full time, the mother had been ill some days previously. She was 

 very wild and nervous, and resented any interference. The sign 

 of ill-health was the one to which I generally attach a good deal 

 of importance in Monkeys, namely, loss of appetite. I also noticed 

 once or twice a slight discharge of what looked like blood-stained 

 mucus from the vulva. This discharge may have been normal, 

 tliough I never noticed it in any other Monkey before the birth 

 of the young one. I have frequently ?een a bloody discharge 

 from the rectum in Monkeys, both male and female. In this 

 particular case I found the young one dead in a corner of the 

 cage. It had evidently been dead some hours, but had been 

 born alive. There was no sign of the mother having killed it, at 

 least there were no wounds or injuries to be seen, but she had 

 tried to push it out of the cage, and was sitting as far away from 

 it as she could when I first saw her. The placenta was still 

 attached to the young by the umbilical cord, and no attempt 

 seemed to have been made to separate it. ISTo reliable data can 

 be drawn from this placenta, as it was obviously not normal nor 

 healthy. The young animal was fully developed, except for the 

 teeth, which had not appeared. All the others that were born 

 here had teeth. 



