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ORDER HYRACOIDEA (CONIES). 



What is the Coney ? Mention in the Bible General Appearance Real Place Range Varieties Coney of the Bible 

 Cape Coney Ashkoko of Abyssinia -Mr. Winwood Reade's Account of the Habits of the Cape Coney Skull, 

 Dentition, Ribs, &c. 



THE order of animals known to naturalists as Hyracoidea (derived from the Greek fyaj, a Shrew, and T5os, 

 form) contains but one genus, called Hyrax. Belonging to this genus are but two or three species of 

 small animals, which, however, are of considerable interest, both from their peculiar organisation, 

 and from their mention four times in the Bible under the name of Shaphan, improperly translated 

 Coney, which has given rise to considerable controversy, as to what animal was meant. Some persons 

 considered, and naturally enough, that Coney meant nothing more or less than the Rabbit ; but now 

 no doubt exists, as has been shown from its characters and habits, that the animal referred to is 

 the Daman, or Hyrax syriacus. 



The following are the passages literally rendered, in which the Hyrax is mentioned in the Bible : 

 "Likewise the Coney, because he cheweth the cud, and divideth not the hoof; he shall be unclean 

 unto you " (Leviticus xi. 5). " But these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, and of them 

 that divide and cleave the hoof only ; the Camel, nor the Hare, nor the Coney ; for they chew the 

 cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they shall be unclean unto you" (Deuteronomy xiv. 7). 

 "The high mountains are for the Goats; the rocks are a refuge for the Conies" (Psalms civ. 18). 

 " The Conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks " (Proverbs xxx. 26). 

 With regard to the first passage, although the Hyrax certainly does not chew the cud, the peculiar way 

 in which it moves its jaws, as it sits perched in a ruminating manner, so to speak, on some ledge of rock, 

 would naturally suggest to the ignorant that it really was chewing the cud. In the third quotation, 

 we read " the rocks are a refuge for the Conies." This exactly suits the Hyrax, which is always found 

 inhabiting rocky situations. The last extract also agrees with the known habits of the Hyrax. Here 

 it is alluded to as being one of the four animals on earth who are small, but very wise. These four 

 are the Ant, the Locust, the Spider, and the Coney. All travellers who have noticed the Hyrax are 

 agreed that it is a most wary and crafty animal, and that the utmost caution is required even to obtain 

 a view of it ; and to kill one requires a most skilful and practised sportsman. 



The Hyrax is a little animal clothed with a brownish fur, of about the size of an ordinary Rabbit, 

 to which, indeed, it has some resemblance. It is allied to the Rhinoceros, the Tapir, and Rodents ; 

 but the whole form of the skeleton approaches more nearly to that of the two former than it 

 does to any known species of the latter. Linnaeus, however, and other authors, classed it with the 

 Rodents ; but Cuvier, seeing that it more nearly approached the characters of the old group of 

 animals called Pachydermata (thick-skinned animals), placed it with them. Now, however, it is 

 assigned by Prof. Huxley to an order of its own named Hyracoidea ; but it still is a doubtful question 

 as to what should be done with it. 



Of the several animals forming the genus, one, the Hyrax syriacus, the Coney of the Bible, is 

 found from the coast of the Red Sea northwards through Syria, by Lebanon, and southwards into 

 Arabia and Ethiopia. Another species, Hyrax capensis, the Cape Coney, is found at the Cape and east 

 coast of Africa, extending from Abyssinia down the east coast southwards. Two other species are 

 described from West Africa ; but both probably belong to one genus. 



Bruce, in his " Travels in Abyssinia," tells us that the Ashkoko, which is understood to be the 

 same as the Daman (Hyrax syriacus), is found in Ethiopia, in the caverns of the rocks, and under the 

 large stones in the Mountain of the Sun, behind the queen's palace at Koscam. He also informs us that 

 it is of common occxirrence in many other rocky places of Abyssinia, and he says that it does not make 

 holes like Rabbits or Rats, because its toes are not adapted for so doing, and that it is a very timid 

 and gentle creature, stealing along a few paces, and then stopping, as if to see that the coast is clear. 



Bruce also states that apparently the same species inhabits Mount Libanus, and the rocks of Cape 

 Mohammed, which divides the Elanitic from the Heroopolitic Gulf, or Gulf of Suez from that of 

 Akabah, and that the only difference he saw was in the greater size and fatness of those of the 

 Mountain of the Sun. 



" The Hyrax capensis" writes Mr. Reade, " is found living at the Cape of Good Hope, inhabiting 



