Naturalis historia 8.45

8.45.176

Bubus Indicis camelorum altitudo traditur, cornua in latitudinem quaternorum pedum. in nostro orbe Epiroticis laus maxima a Pyrrhi, ut ferunt, iam inde regis cura. id consecutus est non ante quadrimatum ad partus vocando; praegrandes itaque fuere et hodieque reliquiae stirpium durant . at nunc anniculae fecunditatem poscuntur, tolerantius tamen bimae, tauri generationem quadrimi. in- plent singuli denas eodem anno. tradunt, si a coitu in dexteram partem abeant tauri, generatos mares esse; si in laevam , feminas.

CHAP. 70. (45.)—OXEN; THEIR GENERATION. We find it stated, that the oxen of India are of the height of camels, and that the extremity of their horns are four feet asunder. In our part of the world the most valuable oxen are those of Epirus, owing, it is said, to the attention paid to their breed by King Pyrrhus. This perfection was acquired by not permitting them to breed until after their fourth year. By these means he brought them to a very large size, and descendants of this breed are still to be seen at the present day. But in our times, we set heifers to breed in their first year, or, at the latest, in their second. Bulls are fit for breeding in their fourth year; one being sufficient, it is said, for ten cows during the whole year. If the bull, after covering, goes to the right side, the produce will be a male; if to the left, a female. Conception takes place after a single union; but if, by any accident, it should not have taken place, the cow seeks the male again, at the end of twenty days. She brings forth in the tenth month; whatever may be produced before that time cannot be reared. Some writers say, that the birth takes place the very day on which the tenth month is completed. This animal but rarely produces twins. The time of covering begins at the rising of the Dolphin, the day before the nones of January, and continues for the space of thirty days. Sometimes it takes place in the autumn;