RENNET 305 



with an air of gentle satisfaction, without taking 

 anything from outside. What is it eating thus, 

 when there is apparently no fodder within reach? 

 It is re-eating what has been stored up in the paunch, 

 and which now comes up from the bottom of the 

 stomach in little mouthfuls. Then the motion of the 

 jaws ceases, the mouthful is swallowed, and immedi- 

 ately after something round and bulging is seen 

 making its way upward under the skin of the neck. 

 It is a fresh alimentary ball coming up from the 

 paunch to the mouth to be chewed. Ball by ball, the 

 mass of fodder accumulated in the paunch comes 

 back thus to be ground by the teeth to the right de- 

 gree of fineness and then swallowed for good." 



"That 's a clever way to eat," was Emile's com- 

 ment. ' ' In order not to lose a moment of their time 

 in the pasture, the sheep, goat, and ox do not stop 

 to do their chewing there : they browse without stop- 

 ping and store up a good supply. Then, lying down 

 comfortably in the shade, they bring up again the 

 contents of the paunch and grind it at their ease, 

 little by little." 



6 ' The second stomachic cavity is called the reticu- 

 lum, its inner surface presenting a reticulated ap- 

 pearance, with an arrangement of dentate and lami- 

 nate folds forming, all together, an elaborate net- 

 work of meshes. This curious formation cannot fail 

 to strike you if you look for a moment at a piece of 

 tripe, one of our countless articles of food ; for what 

 is called tripe is nothing but the collective stomach 

 of the ox." 



