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RUMINATING QUADRUPEDS. 



THE Ruminantia, so named on account of the sin- 

 gular faculty which they possess, of bringing back 

 from the stomach the food which they have hastily 

 swallowed, and submitting it to a second mastica- 

 tion in the mouth, constitute one of the most natural 

 groups of the Mammalia. Their stomach is divided 

 into four cavities, of which the first or largest is 

 named the paunch ; the second small, and having 

 its inner or mucous coat raised into numerous folds, 

 forming polygonal cells, is the honey-comb; the 

 third, smaller than the second, is named manyplies, 

 on account of the prominent longitudinal plaits of 

 ts inner coat; and the fourth, larger and more 

 elongated than the latter two, is the rennet or true 

 stomach, in which milk is coagulated, and the food 

 reduced to a pulp. The paunch, manyplies, and 

 honeycomb, communicate directly with the oesopha- 

 gus, from w.hich to the manyplies the passage is a 



