£54 H Y R 
her to /how them a fountain, where they might quench 
their thirff. To do this more expeditioufly, fne laid down 
her child on the grafs, and, in her abfence, he was killed 
foy a ferpent. Lycurgus attempted to revenge the death 
or Jiis fon, but Hypfipyle was fcreened from his refent- 
ment bv Adraffus, the leader of the Argives. Ovid. 
H YPSISTA'RII, /. [from tnfuo-V, Gr. higheff.] A feft 
of heretics in the fourth century; thus called from the 
profeflion they made of worlhipping the moll high God. 
The doCtrine of the Hypfillarians was an affemblage of Pa- 
ganifm, Judaifm, and Chriftianrty. They adored the moll 
high God with the Chriltians; but they alfo revered fire 
and lamps with the heathens; and obferved the fabbath, 
and the diitinclion of clean and unclean things, with the 
Jews. The Hypfiffarii bore a near refemblance to the Eu- 
chites, or Maffalians. 
HYP'TIS, f. [fo named by Jacquin, from the refupi- 
nate (vnhu, Gr.) limb of the corolla.] In botany, a genus 
of the clafs didynamia, order gymnofpermia, natural order 
of verticillatte, (labiatse, JuJ[.) The generic characters 
are—Calyx: perianthium turbinate, half-five-cleft, per¬ 
manent; fegments lanceolate, acute, almoll equal, upright. 
Corolla : one-petalled, ringent; tube funnel-form; throat 
widened ; limb fpreading very much, refupinate ; upper 
lip (in lituation the lower) trifid ; lateral fegments ovate, 
acute, the middle one roundilh, concave, obtufe: lower 
lip (in fituation the upper) femibifid; fegments femiovate, 
fiat, acute. Stamina : filaments four, awl-lhaped, ereCt, 
of which two are Ihorter ; anthers twin, hanging down. 
Pillillum: germ four-cleft; llyle filiform; lligma bifid or 
fimple. Pericarpium : none ; calyx foffering the feeds. 
Seeds : four. —Effentiat ChtvraEler. Calyx, turbinate ; co¬ 
rolla, with a very fpreading border ; lower lip femibifid ; 
anthers hanging down. 
Species, i. Hyptis verticillata, or whorled hyptis: leaves 
lanceolate, flowers in whorls. This is a Ihrub ten feet in 
height, with one or two upright Hems, near an inch in dia¬ 
meter, fmooth, brownifli afh-coloured, round and woody; 
but the younger branches are four-cornered and herbace¬ 
ous. Leaves oppofite, petioled, long-lanceolate, acute, 
unequally ferrate, fmoothilh, from three to fix inches in 
length. Whorls on the younger branches at the leaves- 
feflile, fix-flowered. Corolla white, vrith the fegments of 
the upper lip purple in the difk ; calyx a little hifpid on 
the back, and at the edges of the fegments ; anthers pale 
yellow. Native of St. Domingo. 
2. Hyptis capitata, or headed hyptis : leaves ovate, 
flowers in heads. Stems fuffruticofe, two or three feet 
high or more, becoming woody, commonly four-cornered, 
brown. Branches annual, herbaceous, fobdivided, four- 
cornered, roughilh, two feet long. Leaves oppofite, pe¬ 
tioled, ovate,"but with a lliarp bafe, veined, unequally 
ferrate, acute, a little hairy on both fides when viewed 
with a glafs, dark green ; the lower ones wrinkled, the 
largell feven inches long. The whole plant is inodorous 
Native of St. Domingo, flowering there in. December and 
January. 
HY'RAX,.yi A genus of quadrupeds of the clafs. mam¬ 
malia, order glires. The generic characters are—Fore¬ 
teeth, upper two, broad, dillant; lower four, contiguous, 
broad, flat, notched ; grinders large, four on each fide 
each jaw ; fore-feet four-toed, hind-feet three-toed; tail 
none. 
i. Hyrax. Capenfis, the Cape hyrax: nails of the fore¬ 
feet flat; of the hind-feet one, fubulate. Head fliort, 
fnout very fliort, blunt; ears oval, open, brown, woolly ; 
limbs very fliort, the flioulders tind thighs being hid in 
the fur ; body fliort, thick, belly prominent ; hair woolly, 
under hoary, above grey, on the fides dirty grey-white ; 
along the back brownifh, mixed with longer black hairs 
and a few b.rillles; fore-feet four-lobed, each lobe with a 
flat round nail; hind-feet two-lobed, and a toe furniflied' 
with a long (harp claw.. Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, 
fifteen inches long; voice fliarp; hearing, acute, gait un¬ 
ready feeds on vegetables; active, cleanly, drinks little. 
H Y R 
very fond of warmth, burrows in the ground ; is troubled 
with lice and worms. 
2. Hyrax Syriacus, the Syrian hyrax, or Syrian hare: 
toes furniflied with foft nails. This fpecies, as well as 
the preceding, was formerly included in the genus Cavia, 
or cavy. The prefent has been called the Syrian cavy, the 
briltly cavy, the Syrian hare, and the aflikoko, which laff 
is the name given it by Mr. Bruce, and to that gentleman 
we are Indebted for a full and accurate defcription of this 
fpecies. He obferved it in feveral parts of Abyflinia, and 
gives us the following account of it in the Appendix to 
his Travels. “This curious animal is found in Ethiopia, 
in the caverns of the rocks, or under the great llones in 
the Mountain of the Sun, behind the queen’s palace at . 
Kofcam ;, it is alfo frequent in the deep caverns in the 
pocks in many other parts of Abyflinia. It does not bur¬ 
row or make holes as tile rat or rabbit; nature having in¬ 
terdicted him this praCtice by furnifliing him with feet, 
the toes of which are perfectly round, and of a foft, pulpy, 
tender, fubflance; the flefhy parts of the toes projeCt be¬ 
yond the nails, which are rather broad than fliarp, much 
fimilar to a man’s nail ill-grown, and thefe appear rather 
given him for the defence of his foft toes than for any 
aClive ufe in digging, to which they are by no means 
adapted. His hind foot is long and narrow, divided with 
two deep wrinkles or clefts in the middle drawn acrofs 
the centre, on each fide of which the flefli rifes with con- 
fiderable protuberancy, and it is terminated by three 
claws; the middle one is the longefl. The fore-foct has 
four toes; three difpofed in the fame proportion as the 
hind foot; the fourth, the largefl of the whole, is placed 
lower on the fide of the foot, fo that the top of it arrives 
no farther than the bottom of the top of the toe next to 
it. The foie of the foot is divided in the centre by deep 
clefts like the other, and this cleft reaches down to the 
heel, which it nearly divides. The whole of the fore-foot 
is very thick, flelhy, and foft, and of a deep hlack colour, 
altogether void of hair, though the back or upper part of 
it is thick-covered, like the refl of the body, down to 
where t-he toes divide; there the hair ends, fo that thefe 
long toes very much refemble the fingers of a man. 
“In the place of holes, it feems to delight in lefs clofe 
or more airy places, in the mouths of caves, or clefts in 
the rock, or where one projecting, and being open before, 
affords a long retreat under it, w'ithout fear that this can 
ever be removed by the flrength or operations of man. 
They are gregarious, and frequently feveral dozens of 
them fit upon, the great Hones at the mouths of caves, and 
warm themfelves in the fun, or even come out and enjoy 
the freflinefs of the fummer evening. They do not Hand 
upright upon their feet, but feem to Heal along as in fear, 
their belly being nearly clofe- to the ground, advancing a 
few Heps at a time, and then paufing. They have fome- 
thing very mild, feeble,, and timid in their deportment, 
are gentle, and eafily tamed ; though, when roughly han¬ 
dled at firlt, they bite very feverely. This animal is found 
plentifully on mount Libanus; I have leen them alfo 
among the rocks at the Pharan Promontorium, or Cape Ma¬ 
homet, which divides the Elanitic from the Heroopolitic 
Gulf, or Gulf of Suez. In all places they feem to be the 
fame; if there is any difference, it is in favour of the fize 
and fatnefo which thofe in the Mountain of the Sun feem 
to enjoy above the others: What is his food I cannot de¬ 
termine with any degree of certainty; when in my pof- 
fefiionhe ate bread and milk, and feeined to be rather a 
moderate than a voracious feeder. I fuppofe he lives on 
grain, fruit, and roots. He feemed too timid and back¬ 
ward in his own nature to feed upon living food, or catch 
it by hunting. 
“ The total length of this animal, as he fits, from the 
point of his. nol’e to the extremity of his body, is feven- 
teen inches and a quarter; the length.of his fnout, from 
the extremity of the nofe to the occiput, is three inches 
and three eighths; his upper jaw is longer than his un¬ 
der ; his nofe ltretches half an inch beyond his chin. The.. 
aperture- 
