THE ABSENCE OF BOTH HIND LEGS BELOW THE 
FEMUR IN A FULL-TERM PIG 
By Marciano Carreon 
(From the Deparment of Aruitomy, University of the Philippines) 
ONE PLATE 
Recently I had the opportunity to observe a pig in the act 
of parturition. The third pig that was bom attracted my 
attention, in as much as it could not stand like the first two. 
When all were born — seven in the litter — I picked up the third 
one and found its two hind legs missing. The pig appeared 
normal in every other way, breathing regularly, but it was 
somewhat weak and exhausted. The specimen was immediately 
taken to the laboratory, where it died two hours later. Efforts 
were made to sustain life, but these were all in vain. 
All of the pigs in the litter were measured. The average 
crown-rump length — that is, the distance from the vertex of the 
head to the buttocks — was 160 millimeters. The pig without the 
hind legs was a female with a crown-rump length of 151 milli- 
meters. Some of the normally developed pigs were of about the 
same length as the specimen. When compared with some of the 
smaller members of the litter, it was quite apparent that this 
pig was not underdeveloped. 
The external features of the pig were carefully studied, 
various measurements were taken, and a careful dissection was 
made to determine if any other abnormalities were present. 
The length of the femur was 31 millimeters, which was 5 milli- 
meters longer than the humerus. The length of the femur in 
the specimen and in the normal pigs was found to be almost 
identical, so it was apparent that the femur was normally 
developed. Attached to the skin overlying the distal ends of 
the femur were two minute appendages forming a whorllike 
arrangement. Each mass was less than a millimeter in its 
dimensions, and was composed of dried tissue, apparently the 
remains of the atrophied portion of the extremities, growth 
evidently having ceased very early in the development of the limb 
buds. 
A dissection of the right hind thigh was carried out to deter- 
mine the arrangement of muscles and their attachments (Plate 
201 
