68 



Lombardini describes small guttural pouches as present in 

 Pisan camels. He mentions occurrence of follicles of Lieber- 

 kiilm in the rumen and reticulum ; also that .careful examina- 

 tion of the microscopical structure of the third gastric compax't- 

 ment proves it to be the analogue of the omasum throughout 

 the greater part of its extent, but its posterior dilatation to cor- 

 respond to the abomasum. The commeucement of the duodenum 

 is a dilated pouch. The spleen is large and adheres anteriorly 

 to the diaphragm, posteriorly to the rumen. 



Lombardini in discussing the functions of the so called water 

 sacs of the rumen concludes (1) that the function of the sacs of 

 the rumen is not really to collect and retain water, but rather to 

 secrete the moisture necessary to enable the alimentary mass to 

 become sufficiently soft to return into the mouth; (2) that the 

 great secretory activity of the stomach on the one hand and the 

 hardness of the normal diet on the other fully suffice to account 

 for the presence of liquid matter in the rumen even two days after 

 the ingestion of drink ; (3) that slaughter of a camel to utilize 

 his stores of liquid can only be practised effectually within forty- 

 eight hours after drinking, i.e., when it is hardly likely a cara- 

 van will have exhaiisted its other sources of water-supply. Home 

 and Daubenton wrote that the muscular fibres of the cells of the 

 second stomach of the camel closed that cavity when the food 

 passed from the rumen into the third stomach, but permitted the 

 fluid to pass when solid matters were going towards the oesoph- 

 ageal canal to be returned into the mouth. Otto, later, seeing in 

 these sacs many muciparous cysts, considered they had some 

 other office than simply retaining' water, but he could not establish 

 his position by proofs. Lombardini argues that if the stomachal 

 sacs of the camel had for their principal duty only the preserva- 

 tion for a longer or shorter time of water ingested against its 

 admixture with food in the rumen, then water perfectly pure 

 ought to be drawn off on puncture of these sacs. As a matter 

 of fact the material drawn off (from an animal bled to death) 

 differed but little from that obtained from other parts of the 

 rumen. This might, however, have been irom post-mortem relax- 

 ation of orifices of the sacs. Again the position of these sacs at 



