450 



MAMMALIA. 



divided into a number of polygonal spaces on its walls ; it is 

 small in capacity, and acts especially as a reservoir for liquids. 

 The omasum receives the "cud." This division has its walls 

 thrown up into a number of deep folds longitudinally disposed, 

 and placed so close together that they resemble the leaves of a 

 book : we can recognise three series of them of different sizes. 

 The food, after being crushed between the leaves, is passed 

 through this into the fourth division, the abomasum or true 

 digestive stomach. Here the food is subjected to the action 



Fig. 214.— Stomach of Edminant. 



R, Euraeii ; G, oesophagus ; Oe.G, cesopliageal groove ; Me, reticulum ; 0, oiuasuin ; 

 Ab, abomasum ; i), duodenum ; C, constriction. 



of the gastric juice, and undergoes the chief digestion. It is 

 called the rennet stomach because oi a substance formed by the 

 secretion of the peptic cells going by that name, the rennet used 

 in cheesemaking and in "junkets" being obtained from the 

 salted stomachs of calves. One must look upon the first three 

 chambers of the ruminant stomach as being dilatations of the 

 oesophagus only. As much as sixty gallons of liquid can be 

 stored in the stomach of an ox ! The intestinal canal is very 

 long. The small intestine in the ox is twice the length of that 

 of the horse, but is smaller in diameter ( = 49 yards). The 



