1 6 THE OX AND ITS KINDRED 
Here it may be mentioned, as a decidedly 
remarkable fact, that whereas the members of the 
Perissodactyla which exhibit the type of foot- 
structure characteristic of the horse are very few in 
number — comprising, in fact, only the horse, the ass, 
the kiang, chigetai, and onager of Asia, and the zebras 
and quaggas of Africa — the representatives of the 
Artiodactyla displaying the ox-like modification of 
foot-structure are extremely numerous, including not 
only the ox and its immediate relatives, but likewise 
sheep, goats, antelopes, the American prongbuck, the 
giraffe and okapi, and the great host of deer. 
Although much more might be added in regard to 
the structure of the Artiodactyla as a whole, the 
foregoing will suffice for the purposes of the present 
work ; and reference may now be made to some of 
the leading features of the major and minor divisions 
of that group in which the ox is included. 
In common with a large number of other even- 
toed ungulates, the ox and its immediate relatives 
are endowed with the power of ruminating, or 
" chewing the cud " — a function rendered possible 
by the peculiar structure of the stomach, which, as 
shown in the figure on next page, typically consists 
of four distinct compartments, or chambers, the 
first of which, known as the paunch, or rumen, lies 
on one side of the gullet, while the other three — 
connected together by narrow channels of com- 
munication — occupy the opposite aspect. When the 
grass or other herbage upon which ruminants — as 
the animals endowed with the power of chewing the 
cud are collectively termed — feed is plucked by the 
mouth, it is hastily swallowed and transferred to 
the paunch, where it is suffered to remain till such 
