CHEWING THE CUD 



say that the hyrax " cheweth the cud but divideth 

 not the hoof " is clearly incorrect. Canon Tristram, 

 however, has ingeniously explained the latter state- 

 ment by pointing out that these animals have a habit 

 of working the jaws about which might have given 

 rise to the idea. One of the earliest of African explorers, 

 Bruce, kept a coney to see if it did chew the cud, and 

 came to the conclusion that it really did ! Coneys are 

 only found in Africa, and in some parts of Arabia and 

 Palestine. As a rule they prefer rocks and stones as 

 an environment ; but some are arboreal, and the special 

 name of Dendrohyrax has been applied to these climbing 

 coneys. When on the ground the dasjes lurk in crannies 

 and cracks and clefts, not building for themselves any 

 habitation. The traveller Bruce did not only dis- 

 tinguish himself by the inaccurate observation just 

 referred to ; he noted that the animal, which he 

 described under the Abyssinian name of Askoko, could 

 climb inaccessible cliffs by merely hanging on like a 

 fly on a wall, and came at least very near the truth in 

 his explanation of the singular phenomenon in the life 

 of so comparatively speaking heavy a mammal. It 

 will be noted from an examination of the live animal at 

 the Zoo that the soles of the feet are fleshy, and that the 

 fleshy part extends beyond the hoofs in front. Coupled 

 with this are creases and folds on the lower surface 

 and a great abundance of sweat glands, which are stated 

 to be fifteen times as numerous as those upon the sole 

 of the human foot. The lubricated under surface of 

 the feet, aided by the contractions of suitable muscles, 

 allow of the foot being closely approximated to a smooth 

 rocky surface, or to an angular one, and atmospheric 

 pressure does the rest, as in the case of the foot of the 

 gecko. The under surface of the foot is simply resolved 

 into a series of suckers like those upon the arms of the 

 cuttle-fish. 



8? 



