348 



THE HARMONIES OP NATURE. 



gives it so deformed an appearance, is in reality of the highest 

 utility ; for should food be scarce and this is almost always the 

 case while journeying through the desert internal absorption 

 makes up for the deficiency, and enables the camel to brave for 

 some time longer the fatigues of the naked waste. 



The cam elides of the New World (the llamas) have a stomach 

 similarly formed to that of the dromedary of the East, though 

 the pouches are more feebly indicated ; and the left end of that 

 of the elephant is likewise adapted by several wide folds of 

 lining-membrane to serve as a receiver of water. This division 

 is of sufficient dimensions to contain ten gallons, and by means 

 of a valve formed by the fold nearest the orifice can be shut off 

 from the chamber devoted to the process of digestion. By this 

 arrangement, which surely must be regarded as more than a 



Stomach of Elephant. 



common coincidence, the elephant, like the camel and the 

 llama, is enabled to traverse arid regions in the service of man. 



The structure of the tongue undergoes considerable modifica- 

 tions according to the habits and kind of aliment of the various 

 mammalia. 



The way in which the great ant-eater uses his long and exten- 

 sile lingual organ to entrap his multitudinous prey has already 

 been noticed ; but all the other quadrupeds that feed on ants, 

 such as the Asiatic manides, the American armadillos, the 

 Australian echidna, and the African aardvark, are similarly 

 equipped. Thus in the four quarters of the globe we find the 

 same peculiar formation of the tongue corresponding to an an- 



