480 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [May, 



the versions that the coney cheweth the cud. As a matter of fact the 

 Hyrax does not chew the cud, even though the movements of its jaws 

 during feeding would suggest such action. Its stomach, though 

 divided into two distinct regions, is not adapted for rumination, and 

 the animal has never been observed to perform that act either in the 

 wild state or in captivity. It is possible, therefore, that the Hyrax of 

 Syria, after all, is not the animal referred to in the Bible as the coney, 

 even though the rocks were a refuge for the latter, according to the 

 Psalmist (civ. 18), as they still are for the Hyrax, and that the coneys, 

 like the Hyrax, are a "feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks" 

 (Prov. XXX. 26). On the other hand, if the Hyrax is stUl to be regarded 

 as the coney, as the Arabs think, then the Biblical texts in which it is 

 stated that the coney cheweth the cud should be revised to make 

 them consistent with what is known to be the habit of Hyrax in 

 this^ respect. 



