NATURAL HISTORY. 



&quot; The tre^s, devouring caterpillars bin-n : 

 Parch a was the grass, and blighted was the corn.&quot; DRYDEN. 



tall trees upon which it feeds, and also to bend the neck when 

 drinking from springs, and other places where water is found ? 



517. }Vliy has the dromedary a hump upon its back ? 



This hump is an accumulation of a peculiar species of fat which 

 is not liable to be acted upon by the great heat to which the animal 

 is exposed. It consists chiefly of stearine, or hard fat. It is, in 

 fact, a store of nourishment beneficently provided against the day of 

 want, to which the animal in a wild state is often exposed, and from 

 which he is not entirely exempted in a state of domestication. 

 The dromedary or camel can exist for a long period upon this 

 hump alone, without any other food ; and it does not die of want 

 until the hump has been entirely absorbed, and applied to the 

 nourishment of the system. 



518. Animals which exist chiefly upon vegetable matter, and which are subject 

 to seasonal vicissitudes in their supply of food, all make accumulations of fat on 

 some part of their bodies, as a provision against the failure of the supply of food ; 

 and their tendency to this habit is exactly in proportion to the need they have for it. 

 The parts of the body in which this accumulation is made, and the consistency of the 

 accumulated substance, are both very important points in the geographica distribu 

 tion of animals. If the animal winters in cold latitudes, the accumulatiovi cf fat is 

 generally distributed over the surface, and the substance is of a soft and oily 

 nature. If, on the other hand, it inhabits warm latitudes, t ie accu 

 mulation is chiefly composed of a crystallizable fat, and is generally svoiated on 

 some part of the animal where it is least likely to interrupt its labour and progress. 



519. Why is the formation of the stomach of the camel and th& 

 dromedary admirably adapted for enabling the animal to kdc*, long 

 journeys over parched deserts ? 



Because the stomachs of these animals are capable oi retaining 

 large quantities of water unchanged for a considerable length of 

 time. A number of distinct sacs are observed to lie between the 

 membranes of the second stomach, and to open into the stomach 

 near the top by small square apertures. Through these orifices, 

 after the stoir.ich is full, the annexed bags are filled : aiu. 



