THE ANATOMY OF THE OX. 67 



honeycomb is especially to be regarded as a reservoir for liquids, 

 the solid substances contained in it being always diluted by a 

 large quantity of water. The oesophageal groove or gutter 

 conveys into the manyfold the remasticated food swallowed a 

 second time, or even in small amount that which the ox ingests 

 for the first time (Chauveau). The manyfold completes the 

 trituration of the food by compressing it between its folds. 

 The abomasum is the true stomach in which gastric digestion is 

 performed. 



The stomach as above described may be said to be that of a 

 typical ruminant, as it exists in the cavicornia, and in most 

 deer. 



The Camel's Stomach. — There are no villi in the rumen of 

 the camel; the mucous membrane of that compartment being 

 smooth. The rumen is, however, in this animal provided with 

 large and deep cells, in which water is retained. The reticulum 

 also has cells, as is usual, and it is very large, and appears to 

 be the chief receptacle for pure water. It is to be borne in 

 mind that food never passes from the rumen into the reticulum ; 

 but water can pass from the reticulum into the rumen. In fact, 

 food may go from the oesophagus into the first, or the second, or 

 the third stomach. It passes as a rule into the second, and 

 only unusually into the first or the third compartment. After 

 it has been re-masticated, it habitually goes into the psalterium. 

 In the case of the camel, however, the psalterium is only very 

 slightly developed, and is not provided with leaves. In the 

 camel the abomasum is divided into two parts, a cardiac and 

 a pyloric part. 



In one group of the deer tribe, the Tragulidee, the psalterium 

 is represented merely by a short tube joining the reticulum and 

 abomasum. In these animals, also, the oesophagus marks the 

 line of demarcation betwixt the rumen and the reticulum. 



The Intestinal Canal. — In regard to the small intestine of 

 the ox, it may be said that it does not difier very markedly 

 from that of the horse. It is smaller in calibre, but, as a rule, 

 of double the length. The duodenum is expanded. The small 

 intestine as a whole is very long, and there are many series of 

 convolutions. Peyer's patches are larger than in the horse, but 

 they are not so numerous. 



The caecum is not provided with longitudinal bands, and it is 



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