_Inguinal hernia_ or "_rupture_" may complicate the operation. This form of hernia is quite frequently met with in pigs, and only occasionally in the other animals. This complication is usually overcome by practising what is commonly termed the covered operation. The pig is usually held or hung up by the hind legs. A larger animal is placed on its back. The hernia is reduced by manipulating the mass of intestines with the fingers, so that they drop back into the abdominal cavity. The part is carefully cleaned and disinfected and an incision made through the scrotal wall, and the thin covering or serous sac in which the testicle is lodged is exposed. The testicle with the cord and covering is drawn well out of the scrotum and held by an attendant. The operator then passes a needle carrying a strong silk thread through the cord and covering, below the point where he intends severing it. The needle is removed and the cord and covering ligated at this point. The cord is then cut off about one-half an inch from the ligature, and the incision in the scrotum made plenty large in order to insure drainage. It is very essential to the success of this operation that the animal be dieted for twelve or eighteen hours before attempting to operate. The after-treatment consists in giving the animal separate quarters and feeding a light diet. _Enlarged or scirrhous cords_ follow infection of the wound, usually with spores of a certain fungus (_Botryomyces_). This complication more often follows castration of cattle and pigs than of colts. Wrong methods of operating, such as leaving the stump of the cord too long and insufficient drainage for the pus and wound secretions, are the factors that favor this complication. Scirrhous cords or fibrous tumors should be dissected out and removed before they have become large and begun breaking down. CASTRATION OF RIDGELING OR CRYPTORCHID ANIMALS.--In the ridgeling animal one or both of the testicles have not descended into the scrotal sac, and are usually lodged in the inguinal canal or abdominal cavity. If the testicle is lodged in the inguinal canal the animal is termed a "flanker." In yearling colts the testicular cord is sometimes short, and the testicle is situated high up in the scrotum and inguinal canal. In examining a supposed cryptorchid colt, he should be twitched. This may cause the testicle to descend into the scrotum. The castration of a true cryptorchid requires a special operation. When properly performed and the animal given special after-care, the operation is not followed by any serious complications. An abnormally large, diseased testicle is sometimes met with that cannot be removed in the usual way, and which complicates and increases the difficulty of operating.