EXCISION OF A LARGE MELANOTIC TUMOUR IN A MARE. 49 
him ; but just as I had prepared the lasso, which was fastened to 
the negro’s saddle-bow, he gave a start, and galloped off some 
distance farther, and I after him. Again he made a pause, and 
munched a mouthful of grass, then started for another half mile. 
This time I had great hope of catching him, for he let me come 
within a hundred yards; but, just as I was creeping up to him, 
away he went with one of his shrill neighs. When I galloped 
fast, he went faster ; when I rode slowly, he slackened his pace. 
At least ten times did he let me approach him within a couple of 
hundred yards, without being at all nearer getting hold of him. It 
was certainly high time to desist from such a mad chase, but I never 
dreamed of giving up whenever I embarked in any thing ; indeed, 
the longer the affair lasted, the more obstinate I got. I rode after 
the beast, who kept letting me come nearer and nearer, and then 
darted off again with his loud laughing neigh. It was this abomi- 
nable neigh that made me so savage. There was something 
spiteful and triumphant in it, as though the animal knew he was 
making a fool of me, and exulted in so doing. 
At last, however, I got so sick of my horse-hunt, that I deter- 
mined to make a last trial, and if that failed to turn back. The 
runaway had stopped near one of the islands of trees, and was 
grazing quite close to its edge. I thought that if I were to creep 
round to the other side of the island, and then steal across it, 
through the trees, I should be able to throw the lasso over his head, 
or, at any rate, to drive him back to the house. This plan I put in 
execution, and then rode round the island, then through it, lasso in 
hand, as softly as if I had been riding over eggs. To my consterna- 
tion, however, on arriving at the edge of the trees, and at the exact 
spot where, only a few minutes before, I had seen the mustang 
grazing, no signs of him were to be perceived. I made the circuit 
of the island, but in vain ; the animal had disappeared. With a 
hearty curse, I put spurs to my horse, and started off to ride back 
to the plantation. 
THE EXCISION OF A LARGE MELANOTIC TUMOUR 
BETWEEN THE SACRUM AND RECTUM 
OF A MARE. 
By M . Leblanc. 
A DRAUGHT mare, of a clear grey colour, and nine or ten years 
old, had, during the last six years at least, melanotic tumours about 
the anus, the vulva, and the base of the tail. The presence of 
these tumours, which are so frequent in some horses, oftenest occurs 
VOL. XVH. G 
