The periods when the teeth which characterize the fifth year make their appearance, must now be described. When the animal is four years and three months of age, the gums of the upper corner teeth begin to redden, and before it is three months older, one of the corner milk teeth may have been removed. The opposite milk tooth speedily follows, and then the corner horse incisors grow down, and seem almost to be fully developed before the corner milk teeth of the lower jaw are shed. When, however, all the milk teeth are lost, the corner incisors will not touch for some time; and by the completion of the fifth year, though the teeth approximate, their tables are not formed, nor do their edges denote any amount of attrition. The corner tooth at five years old, looks young, and is principally covered by the membraneous crusta petrosa, which give to it a dark aspect, as though it were encrusted with tartar, little of the enamel being to be seen, while the shape of the gum is also characteristic. The five year old mouth, therefore, is easy of recognition, the shelly character of the corner teeth being very marked and not subject to much eccentricity in its figure. As five however, is the age when, for general purposes, the majority of high priced horses are brought into the market, the changes which take place before and after this period have been illustrated in the coloured engravings. When the animal is near to or rising five, the corner teeth are dark coloured, and though they touch, nevertheless their edges are not fairly together. The superior surfaces exhibit no tables, and the general aspect is such as is depicted in the engraving; the original of which was made from recollection of the appearances presented by the mouth of Mr. Payne's Rebel, which horse was seen at Hampton Court. The drawing was more recently corroborated and corrected by the mouth of a fine young black hunter, the property E. C. Crowley, Esq. The peculiarities of this age, as denoted by the corner teeth not closing, should be remarked. It is not altogether unimportant to observe this circumstance, as animals are esteemed suitable for particular uses, only after the fifth year has been completed, and certainly all are less liable to disease when the mouth has been perfected. The distinction, therefore, is of some moment; and the better to enforce it, the reader will remember, that not until the accomplishment of the fifth year do the tables of the corner teeth begin to show: even at that time, however, they are very imperfect. [Illustration: _FIVE YEARS OLD._ _A full Mouth of Horse Incisors, all the edges of which fairly meet._] [Illustration: _RISING FIVE YEARS._ _All the Horse Teeth in the Mouth, but the Corner Teeth have yet to meet._]