726 Veterinary Obstetrics 



draft mare which had bred repeatedly before without difficulty. The vagina 

 was abnormally elongated and narrow, and its anterior end opened abruptly 

 downward and backward without resemblance to the usual os uteri. The 

 fetus could be plainly felt through the floor of the vagina, posterior to the 

 opening into the uterus. It lay with its back against the pubis of the mare. 

 By passing the hand through the opening into the uterus, and then down- 

 wards and backwards, the elbow of one fore-leg could be touched with 

 difficulty. After long and arduous labor this one limb was secured and 

 brought into the passage, but we were wholly unable to secure any other 

 limbs or parts of the foal, either by raising the abdomen with a sling or by 

 casting the mare and turning her upon her back. Though my colleague 

 was an experienced obstetrist and a large and powerful man with very long 

 arms, it was impossible for either of us to secure other parts of the fetus. 

 The one limb which we had succeeded in cording was in such a position, in 

 relation to the uterus and vagina, that traction could not be applied with any 

 , safety or efficiency. After a long and fruitless effort, the mare was destroyed, 

 and a post-mortem examination immediately made. 



The foal, very large and well matured in every respect was lying upon 

 its right side with its dorsum against the pubis of the mare. The head was 

 located in the right uterine cornu, and the hind legs and buttocks in the 

 left. The body lay in a thoroughly transverse position across the abdominal 

 cavity, posterior to the opening between the vagina and uterus. One fore- 

 leg was flexed at the carpus, and the other, which we had secured, was 

 drawn backward over the neck of the fetus, into the vagina. The two 

 cornua were developed equally, and their long axes were perpendicular to 

 that of the mare. The vagina, because of the transverse position of the 

 fetus and the peculiar version of the uterus, was much elongated and 

 narrow. The opening from the vagina into the uterus was abruptly down- 

 wards, the superior vaginal wall suddenly losing itself by turning abruptly 

 downwards to become the anterior uterine wall. Thus that portion of the 

 uterus which had originally constituted the roof or superior wall had now 

 become its anterior wall. The inferior wall of the vagina, or fioor, 

 terminated anteriorly abruptly, in a thin margin ; what had previously 

 been \hs. floor of the uterus was turned abruptly backwards against the 

 vagina, thus becoming the superior uterine wall. 



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While the bicornual development of the fetus seems to be 

 naturally limited almost wholly to the mare, because of the 

 peculiar conformation of her uterus, rare exceptions are recorded. 

 Cuille, Revue Vet. 1905, records a case of bicornual pregnancy 

 in the bitch, which caused insurmountable dystokia. The 

 autopsy showed a fetus, lying with its head and fore legs in the 

 right horn and its croup and hind legs in the left. In another 

 case of dystokia, in the bitch, C. extracted the fetus by traction 

 on one fore foot, and believed that this also was a case of bi- 

 cornual pregnancy. 



