THE DOOiLB MAMMALS. 255 



or honeycomb, so named from the polygonal cells on its in- 

 terior, the pmlterium or manyplies, and lastly the rennet or 

 true stomach. When a sheep, cow, or any other ruminant 

 feeds, it thrusts out its long tongue, seizes a bunch of grass, 

 and bites it off by pressing the incisors of the lower jaw 

 against the toothless gum of the opposing part of the upper 

 jaw; the mouthful of grass is then swallowed, mixed with 

 much saliva. When its appetite is satisfied it seeks a re- 



€ja. Sa!3.— Stomach of a Calf, os, oesophagus; or, oesophageal groove; p, paunch 

 or rumen; r, reticulum; m, manyplies; s, ahomasum or rennet stomach; i. 

 Intestine. 



tired spot away from its carnivorous enemies, if not a do- 

 mesticated animal, and, after lying down, suddenly regurgi- 

 tates a ball of grass, the cud,* which it slowly grinds up 

 between its molar teeth into a pulp. The cropped grass 

 passes into the honeycomb and paunch; the manyplies 

 serves as a strainer for the pulp, which in the fourth stom- 

 ach is digested by the gastric juice. 



The prong-horn antelope {Antilocapra Americana, 'Fig. 

 254) so characteristic of the Western plains, like the true 



* The regurgitation of the cud is probably due to a sudden and 

 simultaneous contraction of the diaphragm and of the abdominal 

 muscles, which compresses the contents of the rumen and reticulum, 

 and drives the sodden fodder against the cardiac aperture of the 

 stomach, which opens and the cud is propelled into the mouth. — 



HUXLET. 



