OCR Text |
Show 184 .MAMMALIA. n enormous volume. The intestinal canal is very long, :hough there are but few enlargements in the great intestines, The crecum is likewise long and tolerably smooth. The fat of ruminating animals hardens more by cooling than that of other quadrupeds and even becomes brittle. It is called tallow. Their mam~re are placed between the thighs. Of all animals, the Ruminantia are the most useful to man. They furnish him with food, and nearly all the flesh. he co~sumes. Some serve him as beasts of burden, others With their milk, their tallow, leather, horns, &c. The two first genera have no horns. CAMELus, Lin. The Camels approximate to the preceding order rather more than the others. They not only always have canini in both jaws, but they also have two pointed teeth implanted in the incisive bone,. s~ inferior incisors and from eighteen to twenty molars only; pecuhar1· ties, which, of all the Ruminantia, they alone possess, as well as that of having the scaphoid and cuboid bones of the tarsus separate. In· stead of the large hoof flattened on its internal side which envelopes the whole inferior portion of each toe, and which determines the figure of the common cloven-foot, they have but one small one, which only adheres to the last phalanx, and is symmetrically for~ed liked the hoofs of the pachydermata. Their tumid and cleft hp, their long neck, prominent orbits, weakness of the crupper, and the disagreeable proportions of their legs and feet, render them some· what deformed, but their extreme sobriety and the faculty they pos· sess of passing several days without drinking, make them of the highest importance. The faculty just mentioned probably results from the large masses of cells which cover the sides of their paunch, in which water is con· stantly retained or produced. The other Ruminantia have nothing of the kind. The Camel urinates backwards, but the direction of the penis changes in coitu, which is effected with much difficulty, and while the female lies down. In the rutting season a retid humour oozes from their head. CAMELus, Cuv. Camels, i.properly so called, have the two toes united below nearly to the point by a common sole, and the back furnished with lu~ps of fat. They are large animals of the eastern continent, of which RUMINANTIA. 185 two species are known, both completely reduced to a domestic state.(!) C. bactrianus, L.; Buff. XI, xxii. (The Two-Humped c 1 ) · · 11 f arne. Or1gma y rom central Asia, and which descends to the south much less than the 0. dromedarius, L. Buff. XI, ix. (The One-Humped c 1) · h arne. Which as sprea.d from Arabia into all the north of Africa, a great part of Syna, Persia, &c • . !he first ~s the only one employed in Turkestan, Thibet, &c.; It IS sometimes led as far as lake Bai'cal. The second is well known for crossing the desert, and as the only means of communication between the countries which border on it. The two-humped Camel walks with less difficulty than the other in hu~id ?rounds; it is also larger and stronger. At the regular period It sh~ds the whole of its hair. It is the singlehumped Camel. that. IS th.e most ab.stemious. The .Dromedary, properly speakmg, Is a hghter variety of it, and better calculated for expedition, The flesh and milk of the Camel serve as food, and its hairfor garments, to the people who possess it. In stony countries. both species are useless. AUOHENIA, Illig. In the Lamas the two toes are separate; they are without humps. But two distinct species are known, both from the western continent and much smaller than the two preceding ones. ' Oamelusllacma, L.; Guanaco, Buff. Supp. VI, xxvii. (The Lama.) As large as a Stag; the hair coarse and of a chesnut colour, but varying when domesticated. It was the only beast of burden in Peru at the time of the conquest. It can carry a hundred and fifty pounds, but makes short journeys. The .B.lpaca is a variety with long woolly hair. . Cam. vicunna, L.; Buff. Supp. VI, xxviii. (The Paco.) The Size of a sheep, covered with fawn coloured wool, extremely soft and fine, of which valuable stuffs are manufactured. MoscHus, Lin. Jhe Musks are much less anomalous than the Camels, difFering rom the ordinary Ruminantia only in the absence of horns, in hav- {1) Pallas, on the authority of the Buchares and Tartars, states, that in the deserts of central Asia wild Camels are still to be found; we must recollect, how-ever, that the Kal k . th h b. f . . . fro • • mu s are m e a 1t o g1vmg freedom to all sorts of anunala ma relig1ous principle. Vot. 1.-Y |