THE ANATOMY OF THE OX. 57 



tongue, the muscles of which are very large but have the same 

 arrangement as is usual. In the giraffe the ninth pair of cerebral 

 nerves (the hypoglossal) is very large, and these nerves are also 

 wavy, thus enabling the tongue to be extended without straining 

 them. 



In all ruminants the parotid gland is large, and as a group 

 the salivary glands are relatively larger than in the case of the 

 horse. In the oesophagus there are two layers of muscle, the 

 one layer in these animals running spirally in one direction 

 and the other in the contrary way. Moreover, in correspon- 

 dence with their specially marked muscular powers, the fibres 

 of these muscles of the oesophagus are striated, although they 

 are for the most part unstriated in other animals. The oesopha- 

 gus of the giraffe is; as must needs be the case, of great length. 



The ruminants (ox, sheep, deer, camels, and giraffes or camelo- 

 pards), in correspondence with their requirements, possess, as we 

 have said above, stomachs of considerable size and great com- 

 plexity. Bovidse especially have a complex stomach divided into 

 four compartments, whereas in the case of many ruminants there 

 are only three divisions of this organ. The average collective 

 capacity of the four compartments in an ox is not less than 55 

 gallons, and thus the greater part of the abdominal cavity is 

 taken up by them. The stomach of a ruminant is a very com- 

 plex organ, and consists of four separate compartments which 

 differ greatly in size, in form, and in the disposition of their 

 mucous coats. The first of the four compartments is the rumen 

 or paunch, the second is the reticulum or honeycomb, the third 

 is the omasum, psalterium, or manyplies, the fourth is the 

 abomasum or rennet, or true digestive stomach. The four 

 cavities form a short continuous chain. 



In Moschus (the musk-deer) there are three divisions only, 

 namely, paunch, reticulum, and abomasum, there being no true 

 psalterium. The rumen has a conical process below in the sheep 

 and musk-deer. The relicula are very shallow in the musk-deer 

 {Moschus), Moreover, the opening which leads from the rumen 

 to the reticulum is very large in these animals. Hence in them 

 the stomach as a whole is not so complex as it is in most rumi- 

 nants. 



The first three compartments have but little to do with the 

 essential process of digestion, being concerned chiefly in macerat- 



