292 RUMINATING QUADRUPEDS. 



kind of canal passing over the honey-comb. When 

 a mass of coarse food is swallowed, it obliteratevS 

 this canal, and passes directly into the first stomach 

 or paunch ; but when a fluid or well masticated food 

 passes down the gullet, it glides along the canal 

 into the third cavity or many plies, whence it after- 

 wards proceeds into the fourth stomach. The food 

 of these animals, hastily cropped, and imperfectly 

 masticated, passes at first into the paunch and 

 honey-comb, from which, when the animal ceases 

 grazing, it is regurgitated in pellets into the mouth, 

 and being there properly comminuted and well 

 mixed with saliva, passes directly into the many- 

 plies and true stomach. Another peculiarity of 

 most of the Ruminantia is their having no incisors 

 in the upper jaw ; but a family composed of the 

 Camels and Lamas form an exception in this re- 

 spect, as well as in having several hoofs, whereas 

 the rest have only two, although there are two 

 more of smaller size, and elevated from the ground, 

 on each foot. 



The eyes are generally large, prominent, and 

 lateral, with oblong, transverse or oblique pupils ; 

 the ears elongated, and possessed of great mobility ; 

 the nostrils terminal and large. Some of them are 

 destitute of horns; but the greater number are 

 furnished with those appendages, which are either 

 agglutinated hairs, forming a conical sheath to a 

 bony core, as in the Cow; or osseous processes 

 from the frontal bone, which are renewed yearly, as 

 in the Stag. The flesh of the Ruminantia is supe- 



