TRIPLET CALVES. 279 



unfortunate that this last set of triplets was born prematurely. 

 There would otherwise have been an excellent opportunity in 

 this experiment of breeding the son back to the dam, when 

 the son was a member of one set of triplets and the dam 

 evidently had a definite and innate tendency towards multiple 

 gestation, to get some interesting data in regard to the inheri- 

 tance of this tendency towards high fecundity. 



5. The breeding record of the triplets. The breeding rec- 

 ords and sexual behavior of the individuals resulting from 

 multiple gestation in cattle are of interest because of the fact 

 of the occurrence of free-martins (infertile females) in the 

 case of twin calves. Is the sterility and malformed or infantile 

 condition of the genitalia in the free-martin casually related to 

 the fact of multiple gestation, or do these things depend upon 

 other and unrelated causes? Any information regarding the 

 breeding behavior of individuals arising from multiple gesta- 

 tions is welcome in this connection. The writer asked Mr. 

 Walter, the owner of the calves here described, to pay par- 

 ticular attention, to the sexual behavior of these triplets. 

 This was done. As has already been implied in .what has gone 

 before the male individual of the triplets was entirely functional 

 sexually. He was used in service locally ; got good calves ; 

 and apparently got as high a proportion of calves as would be 

 expected from a bull of his age. In regard tO' the .sexual his- 

 tory of the female individuals of the triplets, Mr. A¥alter has 

 the fcllowirg to say in a letter dated April 11, 1910. After not- 

 ing the fact that these two supposed heifers had been killed and 

 sold in the village market he says : — "Neither of them had ever 

 been in heat and the man that dressed them saiJ that they 

 would never have bred." In earlier letters Mr. Walter on 

 several occasions said that these calves never showed the slight- 

 est signs of being in heat. From the account given by the 

 butcher who killed these animals'"' it appears probable (though, 

 of course, too mucl,! weight cannot be put upon such informa- 

 tion) that in both individuals the conditions were such as have 

 been descriljed for man}^ free-martins. Neither uterus or tubes 

 were recognized but the vagina apparently ended at its anterior 



"^Unfortunately it was not pos.sible for the writer to be present at 

 this time. 



