rs as the pit is worn away. At the age of
three and a half or four years the next pair of nippers will be changed,
and the mouth at that time cannot be mistaken. The central nippers will
have nearly attained their full growth, and a vacuity will be left where
the second stood; or, they will begin to peep above the gum, and the
corner ones will be diminished in breadth and worn down, the mark
becoming small and faint. At this period also the second pair of
grinders will be shed. At four years the central nippers will be fully
developed, the sharp edges somewhat worn off, and the marks shorter,
wider, and fainter. The next pair will be up, but they will be small,
with the mark deep and extending quite across. Their corner nippers will
be larger than the inside ones, yet smaller than they were, and flat,
and nearly worn out. The sixth grinder will have risen to a level with
the others; and the tushes will begin to appear in the male animal. The
female seldom has them, although the germ is always present in the jaw.
At four years and a half, or between that and five, the last important
change takes place in the mouth of the mule. The corner nippers are
shed, and the permanent ones begin to appear. When the central nippers
are considerably worn, and the next pair are showing marks of wear, the
tush will have protruded, and will generally be a full half inch in
height. Externally it has a rounded prominence, with a groove on either
side, and is evidently hollow within. At six years old the mark on the
central nippers is worn out. There will, however, still be a difference
of color in the center of the tooth. The cement filling up the hole made
by the dipping in of the enamel, will present a browner hue than the
other part of the tooth. It will be surrounded by an edge of enamel, and
there will remain a little depression in the center, and also a
depression around the case of the enamel. But the deep hole in the
center of the enamel, with the blackened surface it presents, and the
elevated edge of the enamel, will have disappeared. The mule may now be
said to have a perfect mouth, all the teeth being produced and fully
grown.

What I have said above must not be taken as a positive guide in all
cases, for mules' mouths are frequently torn, twisted, smashed, and
knocked into all kinds of shapes by cruel treatment, and the
inexperience, to use no harsher term, of those who have charge of them.
Indeed, I have known cases of cruelt