18 INTRODUCTION. 



lower jaw. In the upper jaw there are no incisors; 

 but instead thereof a fibrous and elastic pad, or cushion, 

 which covers the convex extremity of the anterior 

 maxillary bone, and which is well worthy of observation. 



The final cause of this pad (which stands in the place 

 of upper incisor teeth) and the part it plays in the 

 procuring of food, is thus described by Youatt. "The 

 grass is collected and rolled together by means of the 

 long and moveable tongue ; it is firmly held between 

 the lower cutting teeth and the pad, the cartilaginous 

 upper lip assisting in this; and then by a sudden 

 nodding motion of the head, the little roll of her- 

 bage is either torn or cut off, or partly both torn 

 and cut. 



The intention of this singular method of gathering 

 the food, it is somewhat difficult satisfactorily to explain. 

 It is peculiar to ruminants, who have one large stomach, 

 in which the food is kept as a kind of reservoir until 

 it is ready for the action of the other stomachs. While 

 it is kept there it is in a state of maceration ; it is ex- 

 posed to the united influence of moisture and warmth, 

 and the consequence of this is, that a species of de- 

 composition sometimes commences, and a vast deal of 

 gas is extricated. 



That this should not take place in the natural 

 process of retention and maceration, nature possibly 

 established this mechanism for the first gathering of 

 the food. It is impossible that half of that which is 

 thus procured can be fairly cut through ; part will be 

 torn, and no little portion will be torn up by the roots. 



