as indicative of the Ar/e of the Animal. 
317 
than of practical investigation, notwithstanding the confi- 
dence with which the author appeals to the experience of 
the breeders of cattle. I refrain, however, from this task, being 
far more desirous to lay before the Society the facts as I have 
found them myself. 
To commence with the birth of the calf. The condition of 
the teeth at birth is subject to ^reat variation. It not unfrequently 
happens that as many as six of the temporary incisors have thrust 
their edges through the gums, while in other cases none as yet have 
made their appearance. These differences probably depend 
rather on the variations in the periods of utero-gestation than on 
any other circumstance. The offspring, it is true, inherits the 
qualities of its parents, and among them may be an aptitude 
to arrive early at maturity ; but it is stretching the point 
to infer that such a power is the true cause of the cutting 
of the teeth while the foetus is in utero. This ground 
might probably be defended by some ; but when we see the 
great differences there are in the times of gestation, it appears 
to me that here is sufficient to account for all the variations we 
observe. 
The prevalent notion among breeders, that a cow carries a bull- 
calf longer than a cow-calf, received singular confirmation by the 
experiments of the late Earl Spencer, who also showed that the 
male parent influences to some extent the duration of the period 
of pregnancy. If forty weeks is the average time of utero- gestation^ 
and some cows exceed and others fall short of it by ten days each 
way, we can easily see that this very common occurrence will ex- 
plain the teeth Ijeing cut or not when the calf is born. In this par- 
ticular, therefore, niy opinion accords with the author of the work 
on Cattle, when he says that " the mouth of the newly-born 
calf presents an uncertain appearance, depending on the mother 
having exceeded or fallen short of the average period of utero- 
gestation." 
The presence of four incisors at birth is, I believe, the rule ; 
more or less being an exceptional number. At this time, also, the 
outline of the other teeth, as ready to cut the gum, is distinctly 
visible beneath the tissue. The third pair is usually through by 
the twelfth or fourteenth day ; but the corner or fourth pair 
seldom penetrates the gum until about the end of the third or be- 
ginning of the fourth week. By the time the calf is about a 
month old, all the incisors will therefore be in situ. Thus we 
find that the statements of the author of the above work do not 
agree with nature's proceedings. Indeed the account he has 
given is fanciful in the extreme, and is rendered the more so 
by the illustrations which accompany his descriptions. We have 
figures of the mouth at birth, and at the second, third, and fourth 
VOL. XV. y 
