8o 



NUTRITION OF FARM ANIMALS 



alimentary canal. The horse 'and hog, as well as carnivorous 

 animals like the dog and cat, have a single stomach cavity, 

 while ruminants, such as cattle, sheep and goats, have a so- 

 called compound stomach consisting, in the farm animals, of 

 four divisions, called respectively the rumen, or paunch, the 



FIG. 9. Sheep's stomach. (Hagemann, Anatomie und Physiologic der 



. Haus-Saugetiere.) 



i, Rumen. 2,.Reticulum. 3, Omasum. 4, Abomasum. 5, Duodenum. 6, Esophagus. 



reticulum, the omasum, or manifolds, and the abomasum, or 

 true stomach. 



In reality the first three divisions of the ruminant stomach 

 are to be regarded as dilatations of the esophagus in which the 

 feed undergoes a softening and fermentation preliminary to 

 true gastric digestion, while only the fourth division is a stomach 

 in the -strict sense. In domestic fowls a similar dilatation of 

 the esophagus at the base of the neck constitutes the crop. 



Moreover, even the so-called single stomachs of the horse 

 and hog, while they have but a single cavity, are in reality 

 compound stomachs! In the. case of the horse three quite 

 distinct parts may be distinguished, viz., the left or cardiac 

 portion, the fundus region and the pyloric region, the two latter 

 having the functions of the true stomach. In the case of the 



