Digestion The Stomach 109 



understood only after a careful study of details. Its 

 four divisions or sacs are the paunch, honeycomb, 

 many- plies and rennet, or what the physiologist has 

 named the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. 

 With the ox these cavities contain on the average not 

 far from fifty -five gallons, about nine -tenths of this 

 space belonging to the paunch. Fig. 1. 



Fig. 1. Stomach of ox. 



T, rumen or paunch, showing attachment of oesophagus. 

 C, reticulum or honeycomb. 

 O, omasum or many-plies. 

 A, abomasum or rennet, showing attachment of small intestine. 



The food, in its descent from the mouth, passes at 

 first mostly into the paunch through a slit in the gul- 

 let. This cavity, as stated, is very large, and it may 

 properly be considered as an immense reservoir for the 

 storage of the bulky materials which the ruminants 

 take as food. As is the case with the entire digestive 

 canal, the walls of the paunch are composed of three 

 layers of tissue, the middle one being a very thick 



