HYRAX, in natural history, a genus of Mammalia, of the order Glires. Generic character: front teeth in the upper jaw two, broad and somewhat distant; in the lower jaw four, broad, flat, contiguous, and notched; grinders large, four on , each side in both jaws ; fore-feet four toed, hind feet three-toed ; no tail ; no clavicles. What distinguishes this genus from the whole class of Glires, besides, is the circumstance of having four teeth in stead of two in the lower jaw and in. deed the teeth in general are differently formed. There are two species.
H. capensis, or the Cape hyrax, is about as large as a rabbit, and abounds in the mountainous districts near the Cape of Good Hope, leaping from rock to rock with extreme agility, feeding by day, and retreating at night to the clefts and holes of the mountains. It has no power of burrowing any recess for itself. Ps sound is a reiterated squeak. It sub sists entirely on vegetable food, and prepares a bed for its repose and com fort in its favourite recess. It may be easily familiarized, and in a state of domestication is extremely cleanly and alert.
H. syriacus, or the bristly hyrax, is to be met with particularly in Ethiopia and Abyssinia, and particularly under the rocks of the Mountains of the Sun. Its full length is about seventeen inches. These animals are called by the natives of these countries Ashkokos. They are gregarious, and, occasionally, seen in companies of several scores, basking be fore the clefts of the rocks in the open sunshine. They are gentle, weak and fearful, b ut if handled with roughness will bite with great severity. They are sup posed to live on grain, fruits, and roots, and when kept in confinement, they will live upon bread and milk. They feed without any voracity, and even the pangs of hunger could not impel them to at tack chickens or smaller birds, which have been thrown to them in that state, in the way of experiment. Their mo tion is not firm upon their legs, but ra ther by stealing along, by a few paces at a time, upon their bellies, in the manner of the bat in approaching its prey. For the Hyrax, see Mammalia, Plate XII. fig. 5.