The Hyrax of Syria. 135 



Leviticus xi. 5 ; Deut. xiv. 7, there seems an apparent prescrip- 

 tion in its favour.* 



An examination of the skeleton and the intestinal canal 

 shows that it is not a Rodent at all, but that it is a Pachyderm, 

 allied to the horse and the hippopotamus, coming, among now 

 existing animals, between the rhinoceros and the tapir — creatures 

 as unlike it to all outward appearance as can well be conceived. 

 H. N. Turner, in his proposed arrangement of the Perisso- 

 dactyla, classes in order — Rhinoceros, Acerotherium (fossil), 

 Elasmotherium (fossil), Hyrax, Palasotherium (fossil), Palopto- 

 therium (fossil), Tapirus, etc. Professor Huxley, see Medical 

 Times, of May 23rd, speaking of the classification of mammalia, 

 tells us that though Cuvier endeavoured to prove hyrax a 

 true Pachyderm, yet Milne-Edwards, from an investigation of 

 certain peculiarities of its internal economy, considers that it 

 has affinity with both Pachyderms and Rodents. 



Naturalists speak of several species of hyrax, but I cannot 

 make out more than five, if indeed variety is not rather the word 

 to use of two of them. Perhaps the best known is the Hyrax 

 Gapensis, the rock-rabbit of South Africa ; its habits are very 

 similar to those of the H. Syriacus ; each lives among the rocks, 

 and is fond of basking in the sun, "feeding with apparent 

 carelessness on the aromatic herbage of the mountain side ; it 

 is, however, tolerably secure, in spite of its apparent negligence, 

 for a sentinel is always on guard ready to warn his companions 

 by a peculiar shrill cry of the approach of danger.'" A second 

 species is H. arboreus, described by Colonel Hamilton Smith ; 

 "it lives," he says, "in the hollows of decayed trees, which 

 it climbs easily;" beyond this little is known. A third is Hyrax 

 Habessinicus, which is found in great numbers in the Somali 

 country, in Eastern Africa, latitude 9° north, longitude 47° east, 

 reported upon by Captain J. H. Speke ; I can learn no parti- 

 culars of this. Again, there is H. clorsalis, described by Mr. 

 Louis Frazer, Her Majesty's Consul at Whidah, as frequenting 

 the island of Fernando Po, in the Bight of Biafra, of which Mr. 

 Waterhouse writes, that he believes it to be entirely distinct from 

 both H. Gapensis and Syriacus, and is inclined to class it apart 

 from arboreus. It is nocturnal in its habits, sleeps in trees all day, 

 and feeds on leaves, etc., at night ; though difficult to find, it is 

 no doubt common, since its loud and peculiar cry is nightly 

 heard during the rainy season ; its native name is Naybar. 

 Shaiv in General Zoology, vol. ii. part 1, refers to a Hudson's 



* Curiously enough, in the Septuaginr, where the coney and the hare are both 

 referred to, we find rov Sao-viroSa — «ai tov xotpoypvWiov, where, in Psalm civ.|[18 

 (Psalm ciii. of LXX.), the English translation has " conies," the word used is 

 XoipoypvWtois (in textu Grabii kayuots). In Proverbs xxx. 26, for "conies" 

 again we find 01 xoi-poypvAAioi. 



