130 



RUMINANTIA. 



hollow conical tube, whose mouth or base is cut obliquely ; and in some 

 they are flattened, making an oval; in others they do not spread or 

 become wide and flat, but only gradually, becoming a section of a large 

 end of the point. 



The tail varies very much in the different kinds both in size and 

 length. 



The external parts of generation, both male and female, are very 

 similar in all the different species. 



The tuft of hair which hangs down from the orifice of the prepuce is 

 pretty common in this class, and seems intended as a director for the 

 urine downwards: those that have it not, have the orifice projecting, 

 and pointing downwards. 



There are eight fore-teeth in the lower jaw, and six grinders on each 

 side of each jaw 1 . 



The stomach seems pretty similar in all the classes ; consisting, first, 

 of a large infusing bag, preceding rumination; the second follows 

 rumination, is honeycombed, and farther prepares the food for diges- 

 tion ; the third is formed with a number of broad valves running 

 parallel to each other, something similar to the valvulee conniventes in 

 the human, and still farther prepares the food for digestion ; the fourth 

 is the true digesting stomach, having some valves running in a spiral 

 direction. The three first bags of the stomach of these animals are 

 covered by a pretty thick cuticle, which is much more easily separated 

 than the common cuticle of the skin ; a smaller degree of putrefaction 

 or of scalding separates it. 



The spiral turns of the colon make distinguishing marks between 

 some of the different genera. 



The dung is of two kinds ; one consists of compound, hard, knotted 

 bodies, of an oval figure, which seem to be formed in that part of the 

 colon which runs along the edge of the mesentery; such as is produced 

 from sheep, goats, <fec. The other kind is soft, which seems to be 

 owing to the colon taking a shorter course across the mesentery, viz. 

 near its root ; this kind is most remarkable in the cow. But there is 

 to be found all the intermediate states of consistence, of which the 

 dung of the nylghau, also that of the elk, are instances : the elk's 

 dung is a good deal similar to that of a horse. The difference in the 

 cotyledons is another distinguishing mark of this species. 



1 [The dental formula of the true ruminants is : — 



. o—o 1—1 or o—o „ 3—3 3—3 QO _ 

 1 3=3' ° 1-1 >? 5=5 m 3=3 = 32 OT 34:: 



the aberrant Camelidce offer some modifications, by which they approach the more 

 general artiodaclyte type. See my ' Odontography.' pp. 527-543.] 



