356 
W. L. WILLIAMS. 
28 lambs, 21 males and 7 females. Of the former 14 had one 
or both testicles retained within the abdomen and 7 were nor¬ 
mal, while the breeding ram on investigation, proved to be a 
“ ridgling.” We advised the owner to dispose of the ram and 
his progeny, male and female, normal and abnoimal, for slaugh¬ 
ter, as the only effective means of stopping the appearance of 
u ridgling ” lambs. # . 
Hereditary influence in the production of hidden testicles lias 
likewise been amply illustrated in ridgling boars offered for cas¬ 
tration. They have rarely come singly, but generally two or 
more at one time from the same dam or sire, and only one case 
has been offered which showed any other cause for the abnor¬ 
mality than arrested development of the organ. 
Of equal interest is the hereditary transmission of liermse or 
ruptures in animals, these being of two kinds, navel or umbilical 
and scrotal or inguinal. In each case it is due to arrest in the 
development of the respective parts, by which process the open¬ 
ings are so closed or narrowed as not to permit the passage 
through them of intestines or other internal organs. It is a 
notable fact that the two forms are interchangeable and must 
therefore be very closely related. In one case I observed a sow 
with navel hernia, and her pigs, eight or ten in number, each 
had one or more lierniae, the sow pigs the umbilical or navel 
rupture, while the boars showed either or both navel and scrotal. 
A client engaged in breeding pedigreed draft horses, and 
raising ten to twenty foals annually, had not had a hernia 
among his horses until buying an excellent stallion, apparently 
free from any such defect, while his first crop of foals showed 
about 50 per cent, of navel hernise. The second crop was not 
so bad, but the hetniae still appeared, and the owner very properly 
disposed of the sire. Doubtless he had, as a foal, shown navel 
hernia, which with age, tends to disappear if not very large. 
But the taint remains, and the defect is transmitted, whether the 
hernia be cured or has recovered. 
Recently we had offered at our clinics for castration two boar 
pigs with scrotal hernice from one sow, and from the next brood 
three pigs affected in the same manner, a total of five defective pigs 
from one sow within about six months. We have also observe 
some pigs with tumors on their foreheads, with the history that 
on the farm five to ten per cent, of all pigs dropped for a num¬ 
ber of years have shown these tumors. Some of them died alter 
a few days with brain symptoms; others recovered, leaving no 
externaf marks. The female line was constant, while the male 
