252 HOOFED ANIMALS 



ungula, which signifies a nail, claw, or hoof. These 

 animals fall rather easily into various smaller groups or 

 sub-orders. 



Sub-Order i. HYRACOIDEA 



FAMILY HYRACIDjE. 

 SYRIAN HYRAX (Hyrax syriacus}. 

 Coloured Plate XIII. Fig. 8. 



The Hyrax is a remarkable little mammal that has greatly 

 puzzled zoologists. It was formerly accounted one of the 

 Rodents, and in its small size, thick fur and general appear- 

 ance, it appeared to be well qualified for the position. It 

 is, however, so nearly related to the Pachyderms, or thick- 

 skinned animals, that some naturalists would unite it with 

 the elephant in a single order of their own. 



Place a Hyrax and an elephant side by side and appa- 

 rently no two animals could less resemble each other. 

 The Hyrax, in size and coat and toes, greatly features the 

 rabbit ; and it lives among the rocks, flying about with 

 the agility of a squirrel in a tree. Indeed, there are some 

 species that are tree-dwellers. 



Yet upon examination we find that the toes of the 

 animal are little hoofs, united by skin to the very nail, as in 

 the elephant and rhinoceros. The teeth are of the hippo- 

 potamus type. Cuvier said that excepting for the horns the 

 Hyrax is ' a rhinoceros in miniature.' 



The Syrian Hyrax is the ' coney ' of the Bible, the little 

 animal who is ' exceeding wise ' though a ' feeble folk/ 

 It exhibits wisdom in a wariness that makes it a matter of 

 difficulty to catch it, even when it leaves the rocky clefts 

 in which it makes its home, and with which its colour so 

 agrees as, to make it not easy to detect it. But it does 

 not chew the cud, as the Jews believed, a mistake that was 

 repeated by the traveller Bruce in much later times. 



There are over a dozen species in addition to the one 

 above. The Cape Hyrax (Hyrax capensis) is well known in 

 South Africa, where the Dutch colonists called it the 



