42 BULLETIN 106, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The calf, a heifer, was very weak, unable to get up or stand. Its hair was long, 

 shaggy, and lusterless. It had the general appearance of emaciation. It measured 

 31 inches from occiput to base of tail and weighed 25 pounds. The buttocks were 

 soiled from thin yellow diarrheic feces. The calf was destroyed at 10.30 a. m. by 

 bleeding from the carotids, and the body cavity was laid open along the median 

 ventral line. The spleen was markedly hemorrhagic. The liver was swollen, tense, 

 glistening, and showed hemorrhagic areas. It was distinctly icteric in appearance. 

 The heart showed hemorrhages beneath the pericardium along the groove between 

 the ventricles. 



The examination of the genital organs of the aborting heifer revealed the following 

 changes: 



The vagina was congested at the anterior portion and contained some dirty reddish- 

 gray mucus, streaked with blood and apparently containing some pus. 



The uterus measured 22 by 38 inches. Its exterior offered nothing notably 

 abnormal. The walls were a trifle thick, dense, and opaque. The organ seemed 

 plump, and involution apparently progressing favorably. There were no evidences 

 of mechanical injury. 



The cervical canal was dilated and its mucosa was ecchymotic (parturient con- 

 tusion) . 



The fetal membranes were all retained. Those of the nongravid horn were edema- 

 tous. Aside from the rent at the internal os through which the fetus was expelled, 

 the membranes were intact and exhibited no trace of mechanical injury. About 

 the internal os a few cotyledons were detached from the chorion, and all the cotyledons 

 were readily detachable. After detachment the chorionic tufts were pale, dirty 

 yellow, and adhesive to the fingers, like the abortion exudate. There were small 

 interplacental hemorrhages, but nothing beyond what is usually observed in healthy 

 gravid uteri. The inner surfaces of the amnion and allantois appeared normal and 

 their cavaties were empty. The uterine contents were odorless. 



The uterine mucosa was pale yellowish, dense, thickened, and somewhat granular 

 in appearance. 



In the utero-chorionic space of nongravid horn there was an abundant, dirty gray, 

 flocculent, viscid, puriform exudate, quite tenacious in places, and especially abun- 

 dant at the base of the horn and for 10 or 12 inches toward the apex, after which the 

 cavity was empty. 



In the gravid horn the exudate was very abundant and identical with that in the 

 nongravid horn. It was most abundant near the internal os uteri and for a distance 

 of 20 to 25 inches along the greater curvature, diminishing toward the apex of the 

 horn until in that region the mucosa was approximately normal and clean. 



Case 2. — A heifer apparently 2 years old and estimated at 625 pounds weight 

 aborted in the car during transit to Kansas City. Nearly all the animals in the car 

 were affected with ulcerative ano-vulvitis. The abortion was discovered about 

 9 a. m. The vagina was extensively ulcerated, cankerous-appearing, red, and bleed- 

 ing at touch. The broken end of the umbilic cord lay vithin the vulva, appearing 

 comparatively fresh. 



The animal was killed by bleeding at 3 p. m., and the autopsy followed imme- 

 diately. The uterus, vagina, and vulva were removed intact. 



The Uterus measured 16J by 28 inches, was plump, firm, more opaque than a preg- 

 nant uterus, but except by careful examination would be passed as a gravid uterus 

 with a fetus 4 to 8 inches long. 



The uterine peritoneum was apparently normal and showed no visible traces of 

 traumatism. Upon incising the uterus it was found that the fetal membranes were 

 completely retained. A few cotyledons, in fact approximately all those in the cavity 

 of the body of the uterus, were detached from the chorion. The chorion of the non- 

 gravid horn, except at its base, was also detached from the cotyledons. In the gravid 



