18 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



a capacious sack to which are attached minor compart- 

 ments lying between it and the duodenum or first part of the 

 bowels, three in number, thus making a quadruple bag, as 

 it were, through the parts of \vhich the food passes, and in 

 each of which a distinct process of digestion is performed. 

 The food passing down ike gullet (a) from the mouth, enters 

 the rumen or paunch (b) where it remains for a time until, 

 at leisure, it is forced back to the mouth by a peculiar move- 

 ment of the gullet. This is composed of rings surrounded 

 by an elastic membrane, and which are very easily dilated 

 to a considerable extent. The gullet, also called the esopha- 

 gus, passes through the entrance of the rumen where it is 

 connected with the second compartment as well as with the 

 third, by a canal, or gutter, known as the esophageal canal. 

 This connects with the rumen by a slit or opening which 

 is closed except when it is pressed open by the force of the 

 passing food, or by some function of its connective parts. 

 This opening is easily forced, doubtless by the will of the 

 animal, and as the canal is filled with the contents of the 

 rumen it closes, holding a cud or mass of the food; this 

 then is forced to the mouth by a successive contraction of 

 the elastic rings, in precisely the same manner, but in a con- 

 trary direction to that by which the food is first swallowed. 

 The cud then being reinasticated and diluted copiously with 

 the saliva, is again swallowed; and by reason of its soft and 

 semi-liquid consistency it passes over this opening in the 

 groove and goes into the third compartment, passing the 

 orifice of the second stomach on its way. The second 

 stomach is called the reticulum or honeycomb. 



The third stomach is called the omasum, commonly the 

 manyplies, on account of the large number of leaves lining- 

 it. These leaves with their attachments to the walls of the 

 omasum are shown at figure 2. The food is ground and 

 macerated between these leaves until it becomes sufficiently 

 disintegrated to be acted upon by the gastric juice of the 

 fourth stomach, known as the abomasum, which is the true 

 digestive organ. 



To repeat concisely this function of the stomach, we may 

 say that the rumen is a sac in which the food taken during 

 the short and rapid feeding time is kept in reserve, and 

 whence it is carried back to the mouth for the process of 



