hackles, a certain development of saddle hackles, a few straggling badly
curved feathers in the tail and short blunt spurs on the legs. Lode
[Footnote: _Wiener klin. Wochenschr._, 1895.] (1895) found that testes
could easily be transplanted into subcutaneous tissue and elsewhere, and
that the male characters then developed normally. Hanau [Footnote: _Arch.
f. ges. Physiologie_, 1896.] (1896) obtained the same result.

The question, however, to what degree the male characters of the cock are
suppressed after complete castration is not so definitely answered in the
literature of the subject. Shattock and Seligmann in their 1904 paper make
no definite statement on the subject. Rieger (1900), Selheim (1901), and
Foges [Footnote: _Pfuegers Archiv_, 1902.] (1902) state that the true capon
is characterised by shrivelling of the comb, wattles, _and spurs_; poor
development of the neck and tail feathers; hoarse voice and excessive
deposit of fat. Shattock and Seligmann, on the other hand, have placed in
the College of Surgeons Museum the head of a Plymouth Rock which was
castrated in 1901. It was hatched in the spring of that year. In December
1901 the comb and wattles were very small, the spurs fairly well
developed, and the tail had a somewhat masculine appearance. In September
1902, when the bird was killed, the comb and wattles were still poorly
developed, the neck hackles fairly well so; saddle hackles rather well
developed; the tail contained rather loosely-grouped long sickle feathers;
the spurs stout. The description states that dissection showed no trace of
either testicle, and I am informed by Mr. Shattock that there were no
grafts. The description ends with the conclusion that the growth of the
spurs, and to a certain extent that of the long, curved sickle feathers,
is not prevented by castration. With regard to the spurs this result does
not agree with that of the German investigators, but it must be remembered
that the latter speak only of the reduction of the spurs, not entire
absence. It is important in discussing the effects of castration in cocks