OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGE OF THE OX. 
393 
Questions. 
Answers 
of the Director of the Royal 
Dairy at Pin. 
3. Pireline, born at 
Pin, 1st July, 1843. 
4. Titania, born at Pin, 
19th July, 1843. 
Answers 
of the Director of the Royal 
Dairy at Poussery. 
Suetonius, also men- 
tioned above, who will not 
attain his third year until 
November next, has like- 
wise cut his corner teeth. 
Among the cows, I can- 
not be certain of more 
than a single instance, not 
often had occasion, or 
rather curiosity, to in- 
spect their teeth. 'The 
solitary case is Miss 
Scott, who, at two years 
and seven months, had six 
permanent teeth ; and two 
months after, that is, at 
two years and nine months, 
put out her corner teeth, 
to the great surprise of 
some country amateurs, 
who could hardly believe 
their eyes. 
4th Question. 
At what medium 
age, according to 
your personal ob- 
servations, do Dur- 
ham oxen, bulls es- 
pecially, shed the 
whole of their milk 
teeth ? 
The dairy of Pin con- 
tains at this moment but 
three bulls. All the others 
are much younger, and 
still retain their sucking 
teeth. 
Among the bulls who 
have got their teeth, two 
have had them at little 
more than four years of 
age. 
The cows are in the 
habit of casting their last 
teeth between three years 
and a half and four years. 
Those I have mentioned 
above have been for the 
most part born at the es- 
tablishment at Pin, a cir- 
cumstance which leaves no 
room for doubt concerning 
their birth 
Four beasts only pre- 
sent exception to the or- 
dinary rule, and shew a 
dentition conformable to 
On an average, the Dur- 
ham breed may be regard- 
ed as cutting the whole of 
their permanent teeth be- 
tween their third and 
fourth years. Past this 
age, I cannot call to mind 
a single instance of the 
milk teeth being retained; 
whilst I have frequently 
seen beasts of this breed, 
no more than three years 
of age, in whom dentition 
had been completed, they 
having all their permanent 
teeth. 
I have never remarked 
the same precocity of den- 
tition in this country 
(Nievre). However, it 
is not a rare thing to see, 
among our best breeding 
farms, animals that have 
been pushed on in time by 
good feeding, cut at three 
years the two middle 
