Chap. 69.] 
MULES, ETC. 
325 
duced in the thirteenth month, an animal remarkable for its 
strength in laborious work. We are told that, for this purpose, 
the mare ought not to be less than four years old, nor more 
than ten. It is said also that these two species will repulse 
each other, unless the male has been brought up, in its infancy, 
upon the milk of the other species ; for which reason they 
take the foals away from the mare, in the dark, and substitute 
for them the male colts of the ass. A mule may also be pro- 
duced from a horse and a female ass ; but it can never be pro- 
jjerly broken in, and is incorrigibly sluggish, being in aU 
respects as slow as an old animal. If a mare has conceived 
by a horse, and is afterwards covered by an ass, the first con- 
ception is abortive ; but this is not the case when the horse 
comes after the ass. It has been observed, that the female is 
in the best state for receiving the male in the seventh day 
after parturition, and that the males are best adapted for the 
purpose when they are fatigued.*^^ A female ass, which has 
not conceived before shedding what are called the milk-teeth, 
is considered to be barren ; which is also looked upon as the 
case when a she-ass does not become pregnant after the first 
covering. The male which is produced from a horse and a 
female ass, was called by the ancients hinnulus,*' and that 
from an ass and a mare mulus."'* It has been observed 
that the animal which is thus produced by the union of the 
two species is of a third species, and does not resemble either 
of the parents ; and that all animals produced in this way, of 
whatever kind they may be, are incapable of reproduction ; 
she-mules are therefore barren. It is said, indeed, in our 
Annals, that they have frequently brought forth but such 
cases must be looked upon only as prodigies."''^ Theophrastus 
"^2 It is expressly stated by Columella, ubi supra, that the mules pro- 
duced from a horse and a female ass, are in all respects most like the mo- 
ther." 
This is explained by Columella, uhi supra^ who remarks, that when a 
stallion is admitted to a female in the full heat of its passion, it often causes 
mischief ; which is not the case when its ardour has been a little subdued 
by having been worked for some time. — B. 
7^ Varro, uhi supra, says : The produce of a mare and a male ass is a 
mule, of a horse and a female ass a hmnusy 
75 Varro, B. ii, c. 1, alludes to this occurrence ; Livy mentions two in- 
stances, B. xxvi. c. 23, and B. xxxvii. c. 3 ; these prodigies were said both 
to have occurred at Reate. — B. 
'^^ Herodotus relates two cases, which were regarded as presaging souie 
