$6 -THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



You must understand that, taken as a whole group, 

 the Ruminants are timid creatures, and are but seldom 

 aggressive unless infuriated. A great number of them 

 are natives of tropical countries, where they are subject 

 to the attack of wild beasts. Their only means of defence 

 is their horns, and to use these, they must be able to face 

 their foes, whose whole construction is such that they can 

 spring upon the unoffending Ruminant and bury their 

 claws and teeth in their back or sides. Their safety then 

 must be sought in flight, and thus the construction f 

 their stomach enables them to convey away with them 

 a great quantity of hastily-gathered food, which they 

 have the singular power of bringing up again into their 

 mouths to be properly masticated. The annexed drawing 

 of the stomach of a Ruminant (Fig. 18) will enable 

 you to understand the processes through which the food 

 passes during digestion. The grass, which is devoured 

 in large quantities and swallowed hastily, passes down 

 the (esophagus or gullet (a) into a very large bag called 

 the paunch (b\ or first stomach ; here it is softened by 

 means of the moisture and warmth with which it is 

 surrounded, and it then passes into the second stomach, 

 which, from its being divided into polygonal* cells, has 

 been called the honeycomb stomach (c). You will no 

 doubt be surprised at the small size of this second 

 stomach as compared with the paunch, but you must 

 remember firstly, that all the grass docs not pass at 

 once into the honeycomb, the paunch acting as a store- 

 house ; and secondly, that when vegetable matter has 

 been soaked or boiled, it can be pressed into a much 

 smaller compass than when raw. The cook will tell you 

 that a whole lap-full of spinach, when boiled, only fills 

 a moderate sized dish ; well, then, in the honeycomb, the 



* Polygon, a geometrical term for a figure having many sides. See 

 " Right Lines," CasselPs Primary Scries, page 81. 



