THE RUMINANTS 133

the rumen, or paunch, to the left of the gullet, and
the retzculum, or honey-comb bag, the psaltertum, or
moniplies, and the abomasum, or reed, to the right of
the gullet. While the animal grazes the food goes into
the paunch, but when the animal rests the softened
food is returned to the mouth for further chewing, and
thence, avoiding the paunch to the left, it passes to
the right, by way of the honey-comb bag and psal-
terium, into the reed, which is the stomach in which
digestion takes place.

The ruminants are separable into four groups, of
which the Cervide and Bovide are the chief; the
intermediate two being the Guirafide, to which
belong the giraffes, and the Azztlocapride, to which
belongs the prong-buck, or North American antelope.
The Cervide are the deer; the Bovide are all the
ruminants with hollow horns, except the prong-buck.
It will be apparent at once that even the Bovidee
might have a book to themselves. What an array
they make! All the cattle, with and without humps,
the musk-ox, the sheep, the goats, and antelopes in
all their varieties, wild and domesticated, none of
which ever shed their horns.

The cattle have smooth, untwisted horns, and are
all assigned to the genus Bos, the chief species being
B. taurus. This includes the aurochs, now extinct,
but to a certain extent represented by the Chillingham
and other wild cattle of our British parks, and the
domestic breeds that come to the butcher. The
Indian domestic cattle, all of whom are humped, are
assigned to B. zudicus. The tallest of the cattle,
standing six feet at the shoulder, is the white-stock-