CHEWING THE CUD 
say that the hyrax “cheweth the cud but divideth 
not the hoof” is clearly incorrect. Canon Tristram, 
however, has ingeniously explained the latter state- 
ment by pointing out that these animals have a habit 
of working the jaws about which might have given 
rise to the idea. One of the earliest of African explorers, 
Bruce, kept a coney to see if it did chew the cud, and 
came to the conclusion that it really did! Coneys are 
only found in Africa, and in some parts of Arabia and 
Palestine. As a rule they prefer rocks and stones as 
an environment ; but some are arboreal, and the special 
name of Dendrohyrax has been applied to these climbing 
coneys. When on the ground the dasjes lurk in crannies 
and cracks and clefts, not building for themselves any 
habitation. The traveller Bruce did not only dis- 
tinguish himself by the inaccurate observation just « 
referred to; he noted that the animal, which he 
described under the Abyssinian name of Askoko, could 
climb inaccessible cliffs by merely hanging on like a 
fly on a wall, and came at least very near the truth in 
his explanation of the singular phenomenon in the life 
of so comparatively speaking heavy a mammal. It 
will be noted from an examination of the live animal at 
the Zoo that the soles of the feet are fleshy, and that the 
fleshy part extends beyond the hoofs in front. Coupled 
with this are creases and folds on the lower surface 
anda great abundance of sweat glands, which are stated 
to be fifteen times as numerous as those upon the sole 
of the human foot. The lubricated under surface of 
the feet, aided by the contractions of suitable muscles, 
allow of the foot being closely approximated to a smooth 
rocky surface, or to an angular one, and atmospheric 
pressure does the rest, as in the case of the foot of the 
gecko. The under surface of the foot is simply resolved 
into a series of suckers like those upon the arms of the 
cuttle-fish. 
87 
