CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



STOMACHS OF RUMINANTS. 



ligament of great length and power. It (lifters in its structure from ordinary ligaments, being highly 

 elastic ; so that it yields to the extension of the neck when the animal lowers its head, and gives 

 considerable assistance to the muscles in raising it. In the deer and the ox, which toss their heads with 

 force and especially in the males, which are armed with antlers or horns the mnsclcs performing 

 those motions are remarkably strong, and the spinous processes of the back particularly prominent. 

 In the loins, on the contrary, 

 llir transverse processes are more 

 enlarged, for the purpose of giv- 

 ing a powerful mechanical pur- 

 chase to the muscles which are 

 inserted into them. 



The chest of Ruminants is 

 compressed laterally, in order to 

 allow room for the unrestrained 

 motions of the anterior ex- 

 tremity ; and the sternum pro- 

 jects so as to resemble the keel 

 of a ship. Both the humerus 

 in front, and the femur behind, 

 arc so short as to appear, on a 

 superficial view, to form part of 

 the trunk being entirely en- 

 voloped and concealed by the 

 large muscles connecting them 

 with the body. The heads of the two hunieri, in consequence of the absence of the clavicle, are brought 

 ^ cry near each other, so as to occupy a situation as nearly as possible underneath the weight which the 

 limb has to support. What is often called the knee in the fore leg is, properly, the wrist, and, in the 

 hind leg, the part so misnamed is really the heel.' Thus, the foot especially in the posterior extremity 



is of great length : a struct lire 

 which is evidently intended to 

 give greater velocity to the ac- 

 tion of the muscles, while it, at 

 the siime time, insures the ut- 

 most steadiness and security of 

 motion. The organs of pro- 

 gressive motion, in this remark- 

 able tribe of animals, arc, there- 

 fore, so moulded as to accom- 

 modate them to the peculiar 

 conditions of their existence, 

 while their relations to the 

 primitive type to which they 

 belong are preserved, 



Provided with the means 

 of flight from formidable foes, 

 they bear on their heads others 

 of defence against their more 



eipial rivals of the field. Even when not furnished with horns, the animal instinctively strikes 

 with its forehead, where the frontal bone has been expanded and fortified, apparently with a view 

 to this result The ram butts with its head without reference to the horns, which are coiled so as to 

 be turned away from the object to be struck ; while, iu the deer and the ox tribes, the horns are 

 formidable weapons. 



The Ruminants derive their name, however, from a peculiarity of structure which must be specially 



SECTION OF STOMACHS OF BBM1SANTS. 



