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. For in some animals it is uniform, when uncoiled, and
alike throughout, while in others it differs in different portions.
Thus in some cases it is wider in the neighbourhood of the stomach,
and narrower towards the other end; and this explains by the way why
dogs have to strain so much in discharging their excrement. But in
most animals it is the upper portion that is the narrower and the
lower that is of greater width.
Of greater length than in other animals, and much convoluted, are
the intestines of those that have horns. These intestines, moreover,
as also the stomach, are of ampler volume, in accordance with the
larger size of the body. For animals with horns are, as a rule,
animals of no small bulk, because of the thorough elaboration which
their food undergoes. The gut, except in those animals where it is
straight, invariably widens out as we get farther from the stomach and
come to what is called the colon, and to a kind of caecal
dilatation. After this it again becomes narrower and convoluted.
Then succeeds a straight portion which runs right on to the vent. This
vent is known as the anus, and is in some animals surrounded by fat,
in others not so. All these parts have been so contrived by nature
as to harmonize with the various operations that relate to the food
and its residue. For, as the residual food gets farther on and lower
down, the space to contain it enlarges, allowing it to remain
stationary and undergo conversion
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