96 



DIGESTION OF ALBUMEN AND FLESH. 



these observations, by simply visiting the butcher pens, and examining the con- 

 tents of the stomachs of cows, sheep, &c. 



Amongst cold-blooded animals, the only frugivorous species which I was able to 

 examine, was the Gopher [Testudo polypliemus) . In this the gi^asses and vegetable 

 matters appear to be principally digested in the colon, which is enlarged into a 

 receptacle for food, thirty inches in length and four inches in circumference. (See 

 Fig. 9.) In one instance, after starvation for thirty days, the undigested vegetable 

 contents of the colon and cascum amounted to 1460 grains. The Gopher, as we 

 have said in a previous chapter, has the power of retaining in its intestines vege- 

 table food, which neither digests nor putrefies, though it rapidly decomposes when 

 removed from the body. 



