THE RUMINANT STOMACH. 583 



sating for the want of teeth, crushes the ants, by aid of the sand swallowed 

 with them. 



It is in the Ruminants, however, which are all vegetable feeders, that the sto- 

 mach presents the most remarkable complication, being divided into four dis- 

 tinct cavities : first, the paunch, rumen, ingluvies, or pause; secondly, the honey- 

 comb, water-bag, reticulum, or bonnet ,* thirdly, the omasum, manyplies, psalter- 

 ium, orfeuillet; and, fourthly, the abomasum, reed, rennet, or caillet. The first 

 stomach, or paunch, is the largest, sometimes attaining enormous dimensions ; 

 it forms a bag, constricted at one point, and placed to the left of the oesopha- 

 gus, which opens into its right upper end ; its mucous membrane is papillated, 

 and covered with a dense white squamous epithelium. In the camel tribe, 

 two clusters of diverticula, or cells, exist, one on each side of the paunch. In 

 the dromedary, each cluster is eighteen inches long and six inches broad. The 

 component cells, quadrangular, and arranged in rows, are, when distended, 

 about three inches wide and deep ; their orifices are closed by membrano-mus- 

 cular folds ; some are subdivided by membranous ridges into secondary cells. 

 These water-cells of the paunch are intended for storing up water, which is 

 found only at long distances in arid countries. They are emptied by the action 

 of their muscular walls. 



The second stomach, or honeycomb, much smaller than the paunch, forms a 

 simple bag beneath the cesophagus, between the paunch and the third stomach 

 or manyplies. Along the inner surface of its upper concave border, is a pecu- 

 liar demi-canal or groove, named the oesophageal groove, which runs from the 

 right half of the cesophagus, of which it seems a continuation, on into the 

 manyplies ; its borders, composed of the muscular, submucous, and mucous 

 coats, are much elevated, and can be brought together, so as to form a tube 

 leading directly from the cesophagus, past the paunch and honeycomb, into the 

 manyplies. The interior of the honeycomb is characterized by a cell-like or 

 reticular structure, being developed into numerous polygonal cells, which are 

 shallow in the reindeer and giraffe, deeper in the ox and sheep, and still more 

 capacious in the llamas and camels. The mucous membrane, in the horned 

 species, is papillated, especially on the interalveolar ridges. The cells of the 

 honeycomb or water-bag retain water, which during digestion is mixed with the 

 food. They are not proper water reservoirs, like the cells of the camel's paunch ; 

 for, unlike these, they have no marginal covering folds, are always open, are 

 more subdivided internally, and do not, when filled, bulge on the outer surface. 

 Moreover, the cells of the honeycomb are present in all Ruminants, whilst 

 those of the paunch exist only in the camels, dromedaries, and llamas. 



The third stomach, or manyplies, is usually the smallest cavity of the com- 

 plex ruminant stomach ; but in the camels it is larger than the honeycomb. 

 It forms a sac, placed between the honeycomb and the fourth stomach, or 

 rennet-bag ; it communicates with the former, by a narrow passage, but opens 

 quite freely into the latter. Its inner surface is remarkably increased by nu- 

 merous longitudinal laminae or folds, having their free edges turned towards the 

 cavity, varying alternately in depth, and numbering from forty, in the sheep, 

 to twice that number, in the ox ; their resemblance to the leaves of a book, 

 has given rise to the appellations manyplies, psalterium (psalter), and feuillet. 

 The mucous membrane of the manyplies is villous. 



The fourth stomach, or rennet-bag, from which, in the calf, the rennet is pro- 

 cured for curdling milk in the manufacture of cheese, is about one-third of the 

 size of the paunch ; it is elongated and conical in form, being wider at the left 

 end next to the manyplies, and gradually narrowing towards the pylorus, near 

 which the muscular coat is thickened, and where a circular pyloric valve exists. 

 The mucous membrane, thrown into loose, irregular, longitudinal rugae, con- 

 nected by smaller transverse ones, is soft, destitute of yilli, and highly vascu- 

 lar. It is chiefly composed of the countless gastric follicles, which open upon 

 its surface. The rennet-bag is the true digestive stomach, being the only part 

 of the compound ruminant stomach which secretes gastric juice. 



The ruminant animal, cropping its herbaceous food, first partially masti- 

 cates and insalivates it, and then swallows it. Afterwards, the animal being 

 at rest, the food, so swallowed, is returned into the mouth, where it is now 

 remasticated and once more swallowed. This constitutes the act of rumina- 



