428 
VARICOSE POSTERIOR VENA CAVA. 
sent. I removed it without giving the subject any thought 
that it would be better to have let its attachment remain. It 
weighed 24lbs. I then removed the uterus and bladder. 
On removing the hind extremities I was very much surprised 
to find an effusion of blood had taken place, and there was a 
laceration of the muscles around the acetabulum joint. I 
continued my examination until I reached the os innominata, 
which was broken into several pieces. I can only describe 
the fracture by asking you to call to your imagination an 
entire os innominata, and then draw a line from before back- 
wards, along the upper surface or sides of both of the obturator 
foramen, and that will leave the pelvic bone in the shape of 
an oval-bottomed scuttle with a tail to it. The ilium and 
acetabulum were perfect, but the tuberosities of the ischial 
bones were broken off. Altogether it was one of the most 
singular fractures I have ever met with or heard of. 
The contents of the thoracic cavity were perfectly healthy. 
All the principal veins were filled with the fibrinous portion 
of the blood and its colouring matter. 
I believe the excitement upon a weak constitution first 
caused a suspension of the action of the rumen, or at least a 
partial suspension of its action, and then general paralysis 
resulted, as a consequence of greater weakness. The fracture 
I have not the slightest doubt took place during the night of 
the 10th, for up to this time the cow had been able to use 
her hind legs, and to raise herself partially. 
[Unfortunately the parts sent by Mr. Fletcher were so 
much decomposed when they came to hand, that we could 
not form any correct opinion respecting them. 
The tumour spoken of by him was connected with one of 
the ovaries, and was fibro-cellular in its character.] 
VARICOSE POSTERIOR VENA CAVA, AND 
MELANOTIC TUMOUR IN A GRAY HORSE. 
By W. A. Cox, Jun., M.R.C.V.S., Ashbourne. 
The following are the particulars of a case that has 
recently occurred in our practice, and being somewhat rare, 
I send it for insertion in the Veterinarian . 
A grey horse, aged, the property of a person living a 
short distance from this town, was taken unwell. The 
owner thinking that walking the animal so short a distance 
