246 RUMINANTIA. 



The two hoofs present a flat surface to each other, and appear like a 

 single hoof cleft in two ; hence the names of bisulcate, cloven-footed, 

 applied to these animals. This form of hoof imparts lightness and elas- 

 ticity to the spring, and aids them in soft ground, expanding when sinking, 

 and closing when being extricated. Many have a sebaceous gland 

 between the toes, whose office is to lubricrate the digits and prevent injury 

 from friction ; and being hollow, are often called feet-pits. They have 

 received the name of ruminants, or chewers of the cud, from the circum- 

 stance of their having the faculty of masticating their food a second time, 

 it being returned to their mouth by one of their four stomachs. The 

 first of these, or the paunch, receives the food as it is plucked, and in the 

 second it undergoes a good maceration. It is then returned to the mouth 

 in pellets or boluses, to undergo a complete trituration by the molars ; 

 then passed into the third stomach, where it undergoes an additional 

 preparation, and is lastly received into the true digestive stomach. The 

 object of this provision of nature is obviously to enable them to crop a 

 large quantity of food quickly, to be masticated at leisure, to obviate 

 the many interruptions they are liable to from beasts of prey and other 

 alarms, as all are excessively timid and wary. 



The tiibe of ruminating animals comprises most of the animals useful 

 to man ; viz., camels, deer, cattle, and sheep ; and of all the Ungulata, 

 they are the most truly and exclusively vegetable-feeders. They break 

 or tear rather than cut their food ; and this action is accompanied by a 

 swinging motion of the head forwards. To assist them in their watch- 

 fulness, tlieir eyes ai-e so placed laterally that they have a great range 

 of vision. Their ears are large, placed well back, and very mobile ; 

 and their smell is very acute. The speed of most is great. Many of 

 them are docile, and can be easily tamed, but they show very little 

 intelligence. Most of them possess horns. 



The nasal bones vary much, and the intermaxillaries are usually much 

 lengthened ; the lachiymals are directed forwards, and occupy a con- 

 siderable extent of the cheeks. The lower jaw is very long, and is 

 narrowed in the space between the canine and first ^irjemolar. The dorsal 

 vertebra? are twelve to fifteen in number, and they have long spinous 

 processes. The median, metacarpal, and metatarsal bones unite and 

 form a cannon bone to each foot ; there are phalangeal bones to each 

 toe. The olecranon and os calcis are both large. 



The sali\ury glands arc large. The paunch or first stomach is capacious, 



