430 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



found follicular glands, apparently similar to those in the small intestine, 

 and which furnish a secretion which it is claimed will turn starch into 

 sugar and albumen into peptone. The latter statement, which is made 

 by Thanhoffer, seems to need confirmation. It is, at any rate, clear that 

 the degree of digestion occurring in the large intestine must be slight, 

 since the greater part of the food-stuffs which reach the large intestine 

 have already undergone complete solution in the upper portion of the 

 alimentary canal. In the large intestine in carnivora the contents of the 



FIG. 165. CAECUM AND GREAT COLON OF THE HORSE. (Strangeways.) 



A, caecum: B C, its muscular bands; D, termination of ileum; E, first, E', second, F, third, and 

 F', fourth divisions of colon : G, pelvic flexure ; H, origin of floating colon. The arrows indicate the 

 course of the food through the colon. 



alimentary tube undergo no further digestive changes, but become more 

 condensed from the rapid absorption of water and other fluids which 

 takes place through its walls. In the solipedes the large intestine is par- 

 ticularly active as an absorbent, removing water and various fluids 

 secreted by the upper portions of the alimentary tube and the alimentary 



