THE DIAGNOSIS OF PREGNANCY AND ESTIMATION OF FOETAL NUMBERS IN SHEEP BY LAPAROSCOPY

Summary. The genital tract was examined by laparoscopy in anaesthet-ized sheep at various intervals after mating. A positive diagnosis could be made as early as the 17th day after mating. A correct diagnosis of preg-nancy was made in twenty-eight out of thirty-one ewes and the diagnosis of non-pregnancy was correct in twenty-one out of twenty\x=req-\ three ewes. The number of lambs carried was correctly estimated from the number ofcorpora lutea in twenty out oftwenty-four ewes. The results of the method are comparable to those reported by other methods of pregnancy diagnosis in the ewe. The most reliable results reported for the diagnosis of pregnancy in the ewe are from radiographie techniques but these are inadequate before the 50th da