TRANSVERSE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FCETUS OF THE MARE. 299 
when manual exploration of the vagina was attempted, a 
marked constriction of vagina at the usual position of the os 
was mistaken for it, and at this point a live foetus was plainly 
felt, apparently with all membranes intact. 
In the absence of labor pains or rupture of the membranes 
and as the mare was feeding quietly, I advised non-interference 
for a time, with close watching. 
The mare continued fairly well and quiet for about forty- 
eight hours when, on being called again, I found foetal envel¬ 
opes protruding from vulva. On inserting my hand into 
vagina the foetus was again encountered in the same position 
as before, but on careful examination it was found that the 
previously supposed os uteri was merely the constricted por¬ 
tion of the vagina beneath which lay the foetus. By following 
the protruding foetal envelopes it was easy to find the opening 
into the uterus, but all semblance to the natural os had 
vanished. 
Far away anteriorly, barely within my reach, the vagina, 
extremely narrow throughout its entire length, opened ab¬ 
ruptly downwards and backwards into the uterus, while back 
of this opening and beneath the vagina, lay the body of the 
foal in a transverse position, readily felt through vaginal and 
uterine walls, but beyond reach through the os so long as the 
mare was standing, but when recumbent, the hind legs were 
barely within reach. After patient and exhaustive work the 
hind legs were corded at hock, but it seemed impossible to 
get the limbs into passage until the legs were amputated at 
hocks. We then had the hocks presenting with ossa calcis 
pointing upwards, while beneath the vaginal walls could still 
be felt the main volume of foetus. Firm traction applied to 
the hind limbs finally brought the foetus away after about five 
hours assiduous labor. 
Examination immediately after the delivery revealed an 
extensive and fatal rupture of the inferior wall of vagina and 
that portion of the uterus in contact with it and the mare was 
destroyed at once. 
Being late at night and all hands thoroughly exhausted, no 
autopsy was attempted and the cause of so curious and vicious 
a presentation was left unexplained. 
