STOMACHS OF RUIMINANTS. 175 



at the orifice leading to tlie fourth stomach, which 

 is so near that of the third, that the distance be- 

 tween them does not exceed three inches. There 

 is, however, a more direct channel of communica- 

 tion between the oesophagns and the fourth sto- 

 mach (4), along which milk taken by the calf, and 

 which does not require to be either macerated or 

 ruminated, is conveyed directly from the oeso- 

 phagus 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 animals 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 em- 

 ployed in dairies, under the name of rennet, to ob- 

 tain 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 ruminants 

 with horns, as the Bullock and the Sheep, there are 

 two preparatory stomachs for retaining the food 

 previous to rumination, a third for receiving it after 

 it has undergone this process, and a fourth for 

 effecting its digestion. Ruminants without horns, 

 as the Camel, Dromedary, and Lama, have only 

 one preparatory stomach before rumination, answer- 

 ing the purpose of the two first stomachs of the 

 bullock ; a second, which I shall presently notice, 

 and which takes no share in digestion, being em- 

 ployed merely as a reservoir of water ; a third, ex- 

 ceedingly small, and of which the oiFice has not 



