134 Notices respecting New Books. 



dispositions. Living upon food not very sapid, frequently dis- 

 turbed in the act of eatings, and being nearly all defenceless, they 

 can nevertheless store up their food to chew it at another op- 

 portunity. Here we see the use of the great stomach of the ru- 

 minating animals, and rumination is a neceneary consequence. 



The author afterwards inquires, if the insects which have been 

 regarded as ruminators had the same occasion for fear, and if 

 it was necessary that they should have an opportunity of storing 

 up a certain quantity of food to remasticate it in a time of rest 

 and tranquillity ? From an attentive observation of the habits 

 of these insects he answers in the negative, nor do their habits 

 announce that ruminating would be of any advantage to them. 

 These animals having a \ery decided voracity, the complication 

 which is observable in their digestive organs seems to be relative 

 to this activity in digestion only. Nature has done every thing 

 to accelerate this digestion, and the peculiar means and appa- 

 ratus which she has given for this purpose have deceived most 

 anatomists. Eut in order to render this perfectly evident, let 

 us examine the structure of the intestinal tube in the species of 

 ineects w?iich have generally been regarded as ruminating. 



An entire order 6f insects, the ortlmpterce, has been regarded 

 as subjecting the food to a real rumination. They present next 

 after the oesophagus a stomach which is sometmies placed on 

 the same line with this viscus, and sometimes a little on one 

 side. The stomach communicates with another organ armed 

 almost always with hard and coriaceous scales : this organ has 

 been assimilated to the L'onnet of the true ruminants ; but it is 

 remarkable that its strong and muscular valvules, and the Scales 

 or sharp teeth with which it is armed, render its organization 

 very different from that of the bonnet of ruminating animals. 

 These teeth with which it is provided, and the tliick and mus- 

 cular membranes which enter into its composition, make it on 

 tlie contrary resemble the crop of birds, its action being that of 

 triturating the food in a more perfect manner. Under the giz- 

 zard we meet with organs which do not vary in their position, 

 but which differ in number. Sometimes very extensive, and in 

 that case being two in number onlv, these organs have been as- 

 similated to the feuillet and the maw of the ruminating animals, 

 and consequently they have been regarded as true stomachs. 

 Observation proves that, in whatever state digestion is, these 

 pretended ventricles never contain any food. We see them, on 

 the contrary, filled with a peculiar humour, which does not ap- 

 pear to be diminished after a long fast. Besides, how could 

 those organs, if they were real ventricles, diminish in size until 

 they became capillary, and multiply so as that some individuals' 

 present no less than forty? It is in fact difficult to conceive, 



that 



