RUMINATING ANIMALS. 



by far the largest, and the food remains in it in a 

 comparatively dry state, to undergo a preparation of 

 softening. The second is of much smaller size, and 

 the sides internally have numerous folds, forming 

 polygonal cells, commonly called the honeycomb : 

 here water or any liquid is received from the mouth, 

 and it is from this that the food, after having passed 

 and undergone its preparation, is passed to the mouth, 

 and undergoes the operation of a second mastica- 

 tion, or " chewing of the cud." When the food is 

 again swallowed, it passes at once to the third sto- 

 mach or compartment, which contains various septa 

 or leaves, which are so placed, that whatever comes 

 from the second stomach must fall between them, 

 and describe three-fourths of a circle before it can 

 reach the orifice of the fourth stomach. This, in the 

 common language of Scotland, is called the " many- 

 plies .*" from hence the food is conveyed to the 

 fourth division, where true digestion from the juices 

 takes place, and it is entirely changed in its proper- 

 ties ; milk is coagulated, &c. 



In these animals a very beautiful process also 

 takes place in the young, where the milk, then their 

 only sustenance, requires no process of rumination. 



