MAMMALS. 621 



Except for this biblical reference the cony would possess but little of 

 popular interest. It is a small and timid animal, making its home among 

 the rocks, and feeding upon vegetation, but especially preferring the young 

 and tender shoots of trees and shrubs. When the colony is feeding, a 

 sentinel is posted to give warning of any approaching danger, and at 

 the first alarm the whole herd quickly make their way to the rocky fast- 

 nesses, from whence it is not an easy task to obtain them. In size the 

 cony resembles a rabbit, but in little else. It is covered with a dark 

 brown hairy fur, and its front teeth grow from persistent pulps. The 

 various features of its internal structure have caused the naturalist no 

 little trouble. At various times the cony has been assigned a position 

 along with the rabbits and squirrels, and with the elephants ; but now it 

 is placed in a group by itself, its only associates being three African species 

 belonging to the same genus {Hyrax), but which are not so well known as 

 the Syrian form figured. One of these differs in habits from the rest, in 

 that it makes its home in the hollow trunks of the large trees of western 

 Africa. 



Ungulates. 



The group of ungulates (the name means hoofed animals) is the most 

 important group of the animal kingdom, viewed from the economic stand- 

 point ; for it contains the great majority of our domesticated animals, and 

 furnishes the principal part of our meat supply, as well as a considerable 

 proportion of our clothing and foot-wear. The horse, cow, pig, sheep, and 

 camel are familiar members of the group. To the naturalist, as well, they 

 possess an interest which can scarcely be paralleled in the whole animal 

 kingdom ; for in this group, thanks to the wonderful deposits of fossils in 

 our western territories, the lines of descent and the methods of origin of 

 the existing forms have been traced with an accuracy and a detail which 

 is equalled nowhere else, and which cannot fail to convince any fair-minded 

 person who looks at the evidence of the truth of the theory ©f evolution. 

 a theory which to-day is accepted by every naturalist in the world. Indeed, 

 so important are these animals in this respect that we cannot pass them 

 by without an allusion to one point of structure — that exhibited by the 

 foot. First as to the hoofs. These are of the same nature as the nails 

 which tip our fingers, but modified to support the weight of the body, and 

 to protect the tips of the toes from wear; for all these animals walk, not 

 upon the soles of the feet, but upon the extremities of the digits. The 

 primary number of these toes in the whole group of mammals is five, but 

 in this group we find every number from one to five, and all can be traced 

 back to the five-toed ancestor. No living; form has that number of tot-. 



