76 Mr. J. E. Harting on Forest Animals. 



cud, but it will perhaps suf&ce if I state only what any- 

 one may observe who narrowly watches the actions of a 

 cow or a deer. The animal first grazes, by nipping off the 

 grass between the cutting teeth in the front of the lower 

 jaw and the hard pad in front of the upper jaw. Each 

 mouthful, instead of being masticated or chewed up, is 

 swallow^ed at once, and it continues to graze until its 

 hunger is appeased. It then lies dowm, and the process of 

 ruminating commences. A contraction of the flanks, a 

 spasmodic action in the throat, and the mouth (previously 

 empty) is observed to be filled with the lately swallowed 

 grass which has been forced up into it. The animal then 

 proceeds to chew this between the back teeth, or grinders, 

 with a slow^ and continuous motion of the lower jaw until 

 the mouthful has become reduced to pulp, when it is again 

 swallowed, and another mouthful is brought up to undergo 

 the same process ; and this goes on at intervals until most 

 of the food swallowed has been masticated. 



The canine teeth, or what in carnivorous animals would 

 be called tusks, are noteworthy. In the low^er jaw they 

 are always present, though modified so as to resemble 

 lateral incisors ; in the upper jaw they are generally want- 

 ing, although in certain exotic species (as the musk-deer, 

 for example) they are enormously developed, and project 

 outwards and downwards to a considerable length. 



The grinders are six on each side of each jaw, and so 

 formed that their surfaces w^ear dowm unevenly by the 

 lateral movement to which they are subject during the 

 process of chew^ing ; each tooth (as in the elephant) being 

 composed of alternate layers of enamel — dentine and 

 cementum — wdiich, being of different degrees of hardness, 

 are differently affected by the grinding action. 



Another characteristic feature in ruminating animals is, 

 that they are four-toed ; they have neither thumbs nor 

 great toes ; and the feet are so proportioned that the axis 

 of the limb falls between the two middle toes, while the 

 inside and outside toes are much reduced in size, and 

 in some animals (as the camel and giraffe) are lost 

 entirelv. 



