ORDER RUMINANTIA. 35 



The neck is in general lengthened, so as in conjunction 

 with the maxillae, which are also long, to reach their food 

 with greater ease. The spinous processes of the vertebrae 

 of the neck diminish in proportion to its length. The ribs 

 are broad and thick. The tuberosity near the head of the 

 humerus or thigh-bone of the atlantal extremity, and the 

 rough edge of the bone, give greater space for the insertion 

 of strong muscles ; and the two bones of the fore-leg, (ra- 

 dius and cubitus,) nearly grown together, give great firm- 

 ness to the anterior limbs, facilitate forward movement, 

 and prevent nearly all lateral motion ; the toes, externally 

 appearing as two only, are in number the same as in other 

 animals, though all are not equally developed. 



The haunch-bone is shaped like a hammer, with the 

 anterior part of the spine extremely large, furnishing room 

 for broad and strong muscles, for the same purpose as in 

 the atlantal, and for defence, by adding great force in kick- 

 ing ; the extremities collectively being admirably adapted 

 to sustain the heavy mass which constitutes the trunk. 



As there is in the text of the Animal Kingdom a full de- 

 tail of the four stomachs which the animals of this order 

 possess, we shall only subjoin that, by their united action, 

 the food is so completely digested, and converted into chyle, 

 that they can subsist, in proportion, upon a much smaller 

 quantity than horses or asses, whose organization not 

 being the same, void theirs very little altered, and, conse- 

 quently, want a greater quantity : hence also their dung is 

 less useful as manure than that of horses. 



The season of copulation is periodical in all the species 

 of this order; and announces itself after the period when 

 their food has been most abundant, when the horns of some 

 genera have been reproduced ; of others, when their bony 

 core has received its increase, and the horny sheath pro- 

 longed by additional ringlets at the bottom ; when, in the 

 hornless species, a fetid humour is distilled from orifices in 



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