388 
Dentition as indicative of the Age 
The memorandum from the farm manager is as follows : — 
" Britannia Farms, Bedford, March 1, 1882. 
" The subject of dentition as indicating the ages of pigs was first brought 
under my notice when a pen of your pigs were disqualified at Birmingham 
Show, some years ago ; and to prove for my own private satisfaction whether 
it could be relied on, I from time to time examined litters then in my pos- 
session. I should think my examinations extended for about three years, 
and, I know, proved conclusive!}' to my mind that no reliance can be placed 
on the dentition of a litter as a true test of the age. I kept no account or 
notes of my examinations, not at that time thinking it would come to such 
prominence as at the present time. The results were as given by you in a 
former letter, from which the enclosed paragraph is taken." 
The " enclosed paragraph " referred to was the paragraph 
(quoted above) from Mr. Howard's letter to the ' Agricultural 
Gazette.' 
Another inquiry, which was instituted about the same time 
as the above, ended in an equally unsatisfactory manner. 
Mr. Sanders Spencer informed me that he had in his pos- 
session a pig of one year old which had the lateral permanent 
incisors. As such an abnormal state of dentition had not been 
seen before, an opportunity was sought to inspect this dental 
phenomenon. Unfortunately the application was made too 
late. Mr. Spencer wrote in response : — 
" Holywell Makor, St. Ives, Hunts, Fehntary 6, 1882. 
" The yelt I mentioned to you on Thursday fliiled to breed, so she was sold 
to our village butcher, to whom I will to-day apply and try to obtain from 
him, or the purchaser, the lower jaws of the pig, and will forward them to 
you if they are not damaged, as they usually are, by the butcher when 
chopping off the snout. I believe I did not mention to you the circumstance 
that one of the yelt's central incisors (temporary) was broken off, so that the 
abnormal dentition may have been caused by accident." 
The promised specimen was not obtained ; but, in reply to 
another letter of inquiry, Mr. Spencer wrote as follows : — 
" After finding the yelt had cut her permanent lateral incisors, I examined 
her molars, but found nothing unusual in their development. Nos. 1 and 2 
were much worn, and seemed quite ready to move for the permanent ones. 
No. 5 looked veiy white, but was apparently fully grown." 
It appears from the above remarks that the state of dentition 
in respect of the molar teeth was exactly what it is expected to 
be at the age of one year, while the incisors indicated the 
animal to be six months older. That such a specimen was lost 
must remain a subject of regret. 
It is not intended in anything which has been stated to 
question the fact of the occurrence of irregularities in the 
dentition of the animals of the farm. On the contrary, my 
subsequent remarks will contain references to numerous and 
