Records are given for 1130 oestrous cycles in zebus and 678 cycles in grades. The mean length was 23·03 days in zebus and 22·42 days in grades. The mean duration of oestrus was 4·78 hr. in zebus. 7·40 hr. in grades. Neither exposure to additional light at night nor feeding a supplementary ration had any effect on the cycle of oestrus.Seasonal variations in both the cycle and oestrus occurred in zebus, but in grades they were much less marked. An association between climatic conditions and sexual function was noted in that a season of increased temperature and sunshine was associated with increased sexual function and vice versa.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using tape-recorded aural models for home practice on selected sight-reading and performance skills of sixth-grade clarinet students. The experimental design was a pretest-posttest control-group design with an additional posttest measure. It was predicted that students in the experimental group would do significantly better than students in the control group with regard to pitch reading, rhythm reading, tempo accuracy, and intonation accuracy as measured by the sight-reading and performance tests. It was also projected that students in the experimental group would complete more music exercises during the study than students in the control group. The statistical analysis indicated no significant difference between the experimental and control groups with regard to either the skills measured or the number of music exercises completed during the study. These results appear to indicate that tape-recorded aural models used in this study had no observed effect on the selected music skills.

There is limited knowledge and research on the experiences of having a daughter with autism spectrum condition from a mother’s perspective. This study aims to explore the experiences of mothers who care for a daughter with autism spectrum condition, with a particular focus on female autism spectrum condition presentation. Ten mothers of daughters with autism spectrum condition took part in a semi-structured interview. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data. Five superordinate themes emerged: ‘Girls have autism too’, ‘She’s a chameleon’, ‘The impact of the diagnosis’, ‘Impact on mums’ and ‘Day-to-day life’. These findings add to our knowledge of how female autism spectrum condition presents and of the experiences directly related to being the mother of a daughter with autism spectrum condition. The findings have implications for clinicians that carry out autism spectrum condition assessments and provide insights into areas where additional support can be provided to mothers and daughters. Lay abstract Parents of children with autism spectrum condition report increased stress and difficulties compared with parents of typically developing children. Our knowledge and understanding of how autism spectrum condition presents in autistic females is currently limited and parents of this population may experience challenges when raising their daughter. Given that mothers are often the main caregiver of a child with autism spectrum condition, they may have useful insights into the experiences of parenting a daughter with autism spectrum condition. Therefore, a qualitative study was undertaken to explore what mothers’ experiences are of parenting a daughter with autism spectrum condition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 mothers of daughters with autism spectrum condition. The interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Five main themes emerged from the qualitative study (‘Girls have autism too’, ‘She’s a chameleon’, ‘The impact of the diagnosis’, ‘Impact on mums’ and ‘Day-to-day life’). The findings of this study expand our current knowledge of the experiences and challenges faced by mothers raising a daughter with autism spectrum condition. Mothers hold a vast amount of knowledge on their daughters’ autism spectrum condition which could inform the diagnostic process and clinical practice. Considering these results, it is important that clinicians support mothers and the family system around children with an autism spectrum condition diagnosis.