326 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



of Mceritherium have been dug up, Sirenia with true hind 

 Hmbs have been found, the rudimentary hip bones of the 

 present manatee, without possible function, being evidently 

 vestigial. Structural similarities have also been noted by 

 anatomists between the elephants and the Hyrax, the typi- 

 cal genus of the family Hyracidae, our conies or damans, 

 small rabbit-like animals not exceeding 18 in. in length, 



'f'^-^M::r^^ 



T^-^^^i^'^^'"'^ 



Conies {Hyrax abysdnicus) ; after Brehm. 

 — From Richard S. Lull, "The Evolution of the Elephant." 



tailless, with short ears and hoof-like nails in place of the 

 claws which would be expected from the general conforma- 

 tion. Excepting the Syrian conies, of which the Book of 

 Proverbs (xxx. 26) says that though "a feeble folk, yet make 

 they their houses in the rock," these animals are confined 

 to Africa, and Egyptian deposits, in which remains of the 

 earlier ancestors of the elephant occur, contain also bones 



