78 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Hyrax Syriacus.—The Daman. (Plate IT.)

This little animal, supposed by many writers to be “the
coney” of Scripture, belongs to a curious genus of small
rabbit-like animals, which chiefly inhabit Africa and Syria,
living in rocky and mountainous districts, and leaping with
great agility from one crag to another. They resemble rab-
bits both in size and colour; the limbs are short, and they are
destitute of a tail; the head is rather small, the ears short
and round, the eyes large and black. They subsist on
grain, fruit, roots, herbs, and grass; are easily tamed, and
prove lively, active, and docile when domesticated. “It is
on the sole authority of the Rabbinical writers that the
shaphan has been identified with the coney, or rabbit. That
this conclusion cannot be correct is very evident, for the
rabbit is not an Asiatic animal, and it is far from being
solicitous of a rocky habitation, which is the distinguish-
ing characteristic by which the skaphan is here denoted.
Some, therefore, who reject this explanation, suppose the
Jerboa to be intended; and this opinion has the sanction
of Bochart, probably from his being unacquainted with the
Daman, or Hyraz Syriacus, which corresponds far better
than any other animal that: has been found, to the brief
intimations which the Scriptures convey. Daman is the