STOMACH OF PACHYDERMS. 117 



link, though decidedly within the pale of the latter. 

 Cuvier has remarked that such of the Pachydermata as 

 approach the Ruminants in the structure of their feet 

 partake in some degree of the complication of the sto- 

 mach which in the animals of the latter order is so 

 remarkable a character; and it may be said, per- contra^ 

 that such Pachyderms as aj)])roach in a certain degree 

 in habits to the aquatic group resemble them in the 

 structure of the same oi'gan. The stomach of the semi- 

 aquatic hippopotamus, for example, consists of certain 

 sacculi, which renders it analogous to that of the lamantin. 

 Sir E. Home observes that " the stomachs of the manatee 

 and hippopotamus bear a close resemblance to each other 

 in structure, and are in many respects similar to that of 

 the peccary, which is a variation of the hogs, to which 

 the tapir is also allied ; and these circumstances throw 

 no small light uj)on the preparatory processes required 

 for the digestion of different kinds of vegetable food. 



The grass of the field is the food of ruminating ani- 

 mals, and, from the structure of their digestive organs, it 

 is evident that much previous digestion is necessary for 

 its preparation. The grass and weeds at the bottom and 

 on the banks of rivers is the food of the manatee and 

 hippopotamus, and the apparatus formed for preparing 

 these substances displays an approach to the stomachs 

 in Ruminants. In the hog tribe the resemblance is less, 

 those animals having a more indiscriminate diet ; the 

 structure of their stomach shows that grass is by no means 

 their natural food. The stomachs of the manatee and 

 hippopotamus, then, which at first sight appear so ex- 

 traordinary and incomprehensible, are in fact the links 

 which unite the Ruminants to those animals which feed 

 on roots and various vegetable substances, and form a 

 key, without which the different gradations caimot be 

 satisfactorily explained." 



It is not only in the form of the stomach, but in the 

 structure and contour of the skull, the position of the 

 eyes and nostrils, and even in the nature of the skin, 

 with its subcutaneous layer of fat, that we trace the ap- 

 proximation of the hippopotamus to the lamantins ; and 



