THE LIVING WORLD. 
543 
singular characteristics we are not able to classify it, since it exhibits the peculi¬ 
arities of rodents, ungulates and the probiscidea. This little animal is now 
regarded as a transitional form from the elephant to the hoofed-animals, the 
fossil forms of toxodontia alone intervening. 
The Daman of Syria ( Hyrax syriacus) is undoubtedly the creature referred 
to in the Bible, and mistakenly called a coney or cony. Another species is 
found at the Cape of Good Hope, and is called by the natives the Klipdach 
(Hyrax capensis). Still another species, the Mozambique Daman ( Hyrax 
arboreus ) is found in South Africa, while the Daman of Guinea ( Hyrax 
yylvestris) is represented in West Africa. There are yet other species, but these 
are the ones best known. 
The Daman of Syria, or coney of the Bible, is about the size of a rabbit, 
and is dressed in coarse fur of a 
brown color. It feeds upon plants 
.-and shrubs, makes its nests in the 
rocks, is susceptible of domestica¬ 
tion, and possesses neither value 
nor interest, except in so far as 
it vindicates the accuracy, as well as 
the effectiveness, of Bible imagery, 
the mistakes to which well-meaning 
and careful students are exposed, 
and from the endless vexation which 
it has occasioned both Biblical stu¬ 
dents and naturalists. It is said 
always while feeding to station sen¬ 
tinels and scouts, who announce by 
a shrill cry the approach of any¬ 
thing to be feared. The Klipdach 
has, so far as known, no character¬ 
istics different from the daman of 
Syria. The Mozambique daman is 
spotted along the back and wears 
longer hair, while the daman of 
New Guinea is arboreal, living in 
the hollows of trees. The damans conies {Hyrax syriacus). 
have the appearance of a furred or 
woolly pig which has lost its tail, or at least so much of it as to leave nothing 
but a rudimentary, fleshy, round root. Its face is not unlike that of a cat or 
monkey, while the longer, light-colored hair which, extending from the under 
jaw to its breast and including the cheeks, has all the appearance of a short fur 
bib or tucker. The paws are padded, hoofed and clawed, and instead of being 
uniformly four-toed, its hind feet have but three. 
TOXODONS. 
The Toxodon, or Bow-toothed Fossil, is of interest as an apparently 
- connecting-link between the daman and the ungulate. In size it is about the 
stature of the hippopotamus, and exhibits structural resemblances to the hoofed- 
animals, the rodents, the ant-eaters and armadillos, and to the dugongs and 
