Chap. 79.] THE INTESTINES. 71 



indeed, in no part of the body is the skin more fine ; for this 

 reason it is, also, that we experience such peculiar pleasure in 

 scratching the parts in its vicinity. Hence it is, that in battles 

 and gladiatorial combats, many persons have been known to 

 be pierced through the midriff, and to die in the act of 

 laughing. 80 



CHAP. 78. THE BELLY: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BELLY. 



WHICH ABE THE ONLY ANIMALS THAT VOMIT. 



In those animals which have a stomach, below the diaphragm 

 the belly is situate. In other animals it is single, but in 

 those which ruminate it is double ; in those, again, which 

 are destitute of blood, there is no belly, for the intestinal 

 canal commences in some of them at the mouth, and returns to 

 that part, as is the case with the saepia and the polypus. In 

 man it is connected with the extremity of the stomach, and 

 the same with the dog. These are the only creatures that 

 have the belly more narrow at the lower part ; hence it is, 

 too, that they are the only ones that vomit, for on the belly 

 being rilled, the narrowness at its extremity precludes the food 

 from passing ; a thing that cannot possibly be the case with 

 the animals in which the belly is more capacious at the ex- 

 tremity, and so leaves a free passage for the food to the lower 

 parts of the body. 



CHAP. 79. THE SMALL GUTS, THE FBONT INTESTINES, THE ANUS, 



THE COLON. IHE CAUSES OF THE INSATIATE VORACITY OF CER- 

 TAIN ANIMALS. 



After the belly we find in man and the sheep the " lactes,'' 87 

 the place of which in other animals is occupied by the 

 " hillae :" 68 it is through these organs that. the food passes. 

 We then find the larger intestines, Avhich communicate with 

 the anus, and which in man consist of extremely sinuous 

 folds. Those animals which have the longest intestinal canal, 

 are the most voracious ; and those which have the belly the 

 most loaded with fat, are the least intelligent. There are 

 some birds, also, which have two receptacles ; the one of 

 which is the crop, in which they stow away the food which 



66 "With Sardonic laughter, as Hardouin remarks. 

 , 87 Or small guts. 8s Or front intestines. 



