CAMELUS a genus of Ruminant Animals without horns ; Carnal of the Hebrews, Djemal of the Arabs, Kciunaor of the Greeks, Camelus of the Romans, Common() of the Italians, Camello of the Spaniards, Kameel of the Germans, Chameau of the French, and Camel of the English. It includes two species, C. Bactrientu, the Camel, and C. Arabiclui, the Dromedary.
The Camels have 34 teeth : 16 in the upper jaw; namely, two incisors—for the camels and the llamas have these, and form the exceptions, the other ruminants being without any incisors in the upper jaw —two canines, twelve molars : 18 in the lower jaw ; namely, six incisors, two canines, ten molars. The Incisors of the upper jaw bear a close resemblance to canine teeth, for they are conical, compressed at the sides, pointed, and somewhat curved or hooked. There is another difference between the Camels and the other Ruminants : the former have the scaplial and cubold bones of the tarsus separated. Instead of the great horny case or shoe, which envelopes all the lower part of each too and determines the figure of the ordinary cloven hoof, the camels have only a small one, or rather the rudiment of one, adhering only to the last joint of the toe, and symmetrical in form, like the hoofs of the Pachydermata. These and other peculiarities of form lead to the opinion that the Camels and the Llamas form the link between the Rutninantia and Pachydermata.
The characters of the genus may be thus summed up :—Lower incisors in the form of cutting wedges ; upper incisors sub-lateral; canines conical, sub-erect, strong ; false molars situated in the inter dentary space on either aide ; head long ; upper lip cleft ; nostrils slit obliquely; eyes prominent ; ears small. Neck elongated. Back with fleshy bosses or hunches ; tail moderate. Toes united below. Teats ventral, four in number. Hair inclining to woolly. Callosities on the breast, and flexible points of the extremities. The upper lip of the Camel swollen and divided, the projecting orbits of its eyes, the lengthened and certainly not graceful neck, the back bossed with a hump or humps, and croup comparatively weak, supported upon the long and awkward-looking legs terminating in apparently dispropor tioned feet, are not materials for producing elegance of form : and indeed the air of the animal is altogether grotesque ; but this uncouth shape is, as we shall presently see, one of those admirable examples of contrivance which must strike the most casual observer.
The two species of Camel were well known to Aristotle, who, in his Natural History' (ii. 1), mentions both the Arabian and the Bactrian, remarking that the latter has two hump; whereas the former has but one.
The organisation of the Camels is wonderfully adapted to their habits and uses to man. The pads or sole-cushions of the spreading feet are divided into two toes without being externally separated, which buoy up as it were the whole hulk with their expansive elasticity from oinking in the sand, on which it advances with silent step—the nostrils so formed that the animal can close them at will to exclude the drift sand of the parching aimoom—the powerful upper incisor teeth for assisting in the division of the tough prickly shrubs and dry stunted herbage of the desert—and, above all, the cellular structure of the stomach, which is capable of being converted into an assemblage of water tanks, bear ample testimony to tho care mani fested in the structure of this extraordinary quadruped.
The stomach of the Camel has been well described by Sir Everard Home.
"The camel's stomach," he says, "anteriorly forms one large bag, but when laid open this is found to be divided into two compart ments, on its posterior part, by a strong ridge, which passes down from the right side of the orifice of the oesophagus, in a longitudinal direction. This ridge forma one side of a groove that leads to the orifice of the second cavity, and is continued on beyond that part, becoming one boundary to the cellular structure met with in situation. From this ridge eight strong muscular hands go off at right angles, and afterwards form curved lines, till they are insensibly lost in the coats of the stomach. These are at equal distances from each other, and, being intersected in a regular way by transverse muscular septa, form the cells. This cellular structure is in the left compartment of the first cavity, and there is another of a more super ficial kiud on the right, placed in exactly the opposite direction, made up of twenty-one rows of smaller cells, but entirely unconnected with the great ridge. On the left aide of the termination of the cesophagua a broad muscular band has its origin from the coats of the first cavity, and passes down in the form of a fold parallel to the great ridge, till it enters the orifice of the second, where it takes another direction. It is continued along the upper edge of that cavity, and terminates within the orifice of a small bag, which may be termed the third cavity. This band on one side and the great ridge on the other form a canal, which leads from the cesophagua down to the cellular struc ture in the lower part of the first cavity. The orifice of the second cavity, when this muscle is not in action, is nearly shut ; it is at right angles to the side of the first. The second cavity forma a pendulous bag, in which there are twelve rows of calls, formed by as many strong muscular bands, passing in a transverse direction, and inter sected by weaker muscular bands, so as to form the orifices of the cells. Above these cells, between them and the muscle which passes along the upper part of this cavity, is a smooth surface extending from tile orifice of this cavity to the termination in the third.