THE ANATOMY OF THE OX. 49 



tarsi and the extensor pedis of the horse have, in the case of the 

 ox, a common origin, giving rise to three large muscles, of which 

 the external one is the extensor communis digitorum, and the 

 internal the extensor proprius internus, the tendons of these two 

 terminating as in the fore limb. The third of these three 

 muscles is situated in front of and a little to the inner side of 

 the others. It is a flexor of the metatarsus, and represents the 

 fibrous portion of the flexor metatarsi in the horse, forming a 

 sheath or ring through which the tibialis anticus, a muscle repre- 

 senting the fleshy portion of the same, passes. The peroneus 

 is the extensor proprius externus, and it is attached distally, as 

 in the case of the fore limb. A muscle, the peroneus longus 

 lateralis, has no representative in the horse. It arises deeply 

 from the external part of the head of the tibia, and ends in a 

 long slender tendon, which winds obliquely over that of the 

 proprius externus at the tarsal joint, and after pursuing a 

 tortuous course round the outside of the joint, is inserted into 

 the small cuneiform and metatarsal bones. The gastrocnemius 

 internus of the ruminant is thicker in the fleshy portion than 

 that of the horse, and the flexor perforans is more clearly 

 divisible into two parts.* 



SUCTION III.— INTERNAL ANATOMY. 



The Organs concerned in the Process of Digestion. 



As our readers probably know quite well, the organs which 

 are concerned in the process of digestion in ruminants are of 

 a characteristic and very complex kind. For example, the 

 stomach is composed of no less than four compartments in most 

 ruminants, and each one of these has its own special functions. 

 We shall describe the stomach in detail later on ; but we may 

 say here that, having regard to the complexity of the digestive 

 canal, there is no reason for surprise in the fact that ruminants 

 are liable to become aff'ected with certain peculiar kinds of 

 diseases which are connected with the special features of their 



* For the above brief account of Ligaments and Muscles we are, in some 

 degree, indebted to that valuable work, Strangeway's Veterinary Anatomyt 

 revised by Vaughan. 



4. 



