RUMINATION. ]31 



comb bag, or reticulum; the third, E, is the manyplies, or 

 omasum; and the fourth, F, which communicates backwards 

 with the intestine, is the rennet or abomasum. 



The gullet, C, enters the first stomach or rumen at its 

 upper, and left anterior and side. The paunch occupies 

 three-fourths of the abdominal space, having the spleen on 

 its left side, the reticulum in front, the remaining stomachs 

 and the intestines on the right. Fig. 70 represents the 

 interior of this organ divided into compartments by con- 

 strictions, and these are due to two muscular bands. The 

 rough character observed in the engraving is due to emi- 

 nences or papillae on the mucous membrane, which is covered 

 by a dense scaly epithelium or protecting structure. The 

 papillae are very large in the dependent sacs into which the 

 paunch is subdivided. 



I must here specially allude to the remarkable construc- 

 tion of the rumen of camels and other animals of the desert. 

 There are two large collections of prominent dilatations, which 

 prove on dissection to be a number of large cells arranged 

 in parallel rows, and separated from each other by mem- 

 branous folds, the free margins of which are thickened by 

 muscular fibres or sphincters, capable of closing the opening 

 by which each cell communicates with the cavity of the 

 rumen. There are eight hundred of these cells, and they 

 always contain water, for which, indeed, they are believed to 

 be constructed. One of the group of cells is to the left, and 

 another to the right Solid food does not penetrate them, 

 but it has been found the right group would hold more than 

 five quarts of water. In the camels the mucous membrane of 

 the paunch is not papillated as in the ox and sheep. The 

 cells above referred to are represented at Fig. 69. 



The reticulum, or honeycomb stomach, has been called 

 bonnet by the French, from its resemblance to a cap. (See 



