Rumination
the act of chewing the cud. The food of the ruminants is grass, which requires a longer series of chemical changes to convert a portion of it into blood than does the flesh of other animals eaten by the Carnivora. To produce these changes there is a complex stomach divided into four parts, the rumen or paunch, the reticulum or honey comb bag, the psalterium or manyplies, and the abomasum or reed. A ruminant does not chew the fodder which it eats, but simply swallows it. When it has had enough it retires to a quiet spot, forces up again to the mouth a portion of the food in its paunch, thoroughly chews it and then swallows it again. Another and another bolus is thus disposed of. Each of these, started from the paunch, is forced next into the honeycomb bag, where it receives its form, and then goes or third stomach, and thence to the abomasum. Fluids may pass directly into any part of the stomach.