STOMACHS OF RUMINANTS. 197 



Fig. 314 represents this plicated structure in the 

 interior of the third stomach of a bullock. 

 Whatever food is introduced into this cavity, 

 which is named, from its foliated structure, the 

 many -plies stomach, must pass between these 

 folds, and describe three-fourths of a circle, 

 before it can arrive at the orifice leading to the 

 fourth stomach, which is so near that of the third, 

 that the distance between them does not exceed 

 three inches. There is, however, a more direct 

 channel of communication between the oeso- 

 phagus and the fourth stomach (4), along which 

 milk taken by the calf, and which does not 

 require to be either macerated or ruminated, is 

 conveyed directly from the oesophagus to this 

 fourth stomach ; for at that period the folds of 

 the many-plies stomach are not yet separated, 

 and adhere closely together ; and in these ani- 

 mals rumination does not take place, till they 

 begin to eat solid food. It is in this fourth 

 stomach, which is called the reed, that the proper 

 digestion of the food is performed, and it is here 

 that the coagulation of the milk takes place ; on 

 which account the coats of this stomach are 

 employed in dairies, under the name of rennet^ 

 to obtain curd from milk. 



A regular gradation in the structure of rumi- 

 nating stomachs may be traced in the different 

 genera of this family of quadrupeds. In rumi- 

 nants with horns, as the bullock and the sheep, 

 there are two preparatory stomachs for retaining 



