Ergoted grasses have long been known as a cause of widespread abortion in cows. The ergot is familiar as the dark purple or black, hard, spurlike growths which protrude from the seeds of the grasses at the period of their ripening. (Pl. V.) It is especially common, in damp localities and cloudy seasons on meadows shaded by trees and protected against the free sweep of the winds. The same is to a large extent true of smut; hence, wet years have been often remarkable for the great prevalence of abortions. Abortions have greatly increased in New Zealand among cows since the introduction of rye grass, which is specially subject to ergot. As abortion is more prevalent in old dairying districts, the ergot may not be the sole cause in this instance. The riding of one another by cows is attended by such severe muscular exertion, jars, jolts, mental excitement, and gravitation of the womb and abdominal organs backward that it may easily cause abortion in a predisposed animal. Keeping in stalls that slope too much behind (more than 2 inches) acts in the same way, the compression from lying and the gravitation backward proving more than a predisposed cow can safely bear. Deep gutters behind the stalls, into which one or both hind limbs slip unexpectedly, strain the loins and jar the body and womb most injuriously. Slippery stalls in which the flooring boards are laid longitudinally in place of transversely, and on which there is no device to give a firm foothold, are almost equally dangerous. Driving on icy ground, or through a narrow doorway where the abdomen is liable to be jammed, are other common causes. Aborting cows often fail to expel the afterbirth, and if this remains hanging in a putrid condition it is most injurious to pregnant cows in the near vicinity. So with retained afterbirth in other cows after calving. That some cows kept in filthy stables or with slaughterhouses near by may become inured to the odors and escape the evil results is no disproof of the injurious effects so often seen in such cases. The excitement, jarring, and jolting of a railroad journey often cause abortion, especially as the cow nears the period of calving, and the terror or injury of railway or other accidents proves incomparably worse. All irritant poisons cause abortions by the disorder and inflammation of the digestive organs, and if such agents act also on the kidneys or womb, the effect is materially enhanced. Powerful purgatives or diuretics should never be administered to the pregnant cow.