ALIMENTARY CANAL OF ARTIODACTYLA. 465 



bodies of the vertebrae and extending from the beginning of the 

 jejunum to the rectum. 



337. Alimentary canal of Arfiodactyla. -\n this order the 

 stomach is the usual seat of complication ; the caecum is simple. 

 The Hogs (Sus) present the least complex form of stomach. 

 The epithelium continued from the oesophagus into the cardiac 

 end is unusually dense : and the part to the left of the gullet is 

 more distinct and pouch-like than in the ordinary simple stomachs; 

 the remaining and larger portion of the stomach has its soft and 

 vascular lining membrane thrown into many rugae- ' Where the 

 oesophagus enters there is a doubling of the stomach on the left 

 which would seem as if designed to conduct the food toward the 

 pylorus : and there is another doubling of the great end, at that 

 surface where the oesophagus enters, as it were, dividing the 

 great end from the rest of the stomach.' { In short, one may 

 plainly discern the initial steps in the modifications for affecting 

 the course of the food which culminate in the ruminants. On 

 the left side of the cardia the hard epithelium extends as far as a 

 ridge which partially divides the general cavity of the stomach 

 from the small blind pouch at that end: on the right side the 

 cuticle terminates at the ridge formed by the angle between the 

 cardiac and pyloric portions of the cavity : the muscular tunic of 

 the latter portion is very thick. The pylorus is defended by an 

 oval protuberance. 



In the Babyroussa the cardiac portion to the left of the gullet 

 is much more extensive than in the common Hog : and develops 

 a more distinct blind pouch, curved and of smaller calibre than 

 the rest of the cardiac end. The epithelium of the margin of the 

 cardiac orifice gives off small processes, and these also appear as 

 tubercles in the cardiac pouch. The pyloric part of the stomach 

 is marked by the thickness of its walls : its mucous surface is 

 reticulate. In the Peccary (Dicotyles torquatus) the stomach is 

 divided into three compartments by the inward production of 

 two broad ridges, which are situated, one to the left, and the 

 other to the right of the cardiac orifice, like the narrower ones in 

 the stomach of the Hog. The cardiac division of the stomach is 

 greatly extended in the transverse direction, and terminates in 

 two moderately elongated blind pouches. This division com- 

 municates with the middle compartment by a broad circular 

 aperture. The oesophagus opens into the middle compartment, 

 which is of less extent than the preceding, and communicates by 



1 ccxxxvi. vol. ii. p. 120. 

 VOL. III. H H 



