SOME NEW MAMMALS FROM MESOPOTAMIA. 749 



below, the hairs of the sides tipped with biiffy, and the hairs of the 

 middle of the back alone slaty at base. Usual white eye and ear 

 patches present. Palms and soles with the hairy covering longer 

 than in andersoni, less close and fine, but this may possibly be due 

 to confinement. Tail pale buff'y white above, pure white below, the 

 terminal tuft little developed, faintly brown above. 



Skull, as compared with those of the other species, distinguished 

 by the greater size of the bullae, which project backwards bej'ond 

 the level of the most posterior part of the occiput, which is not 

 the case in any one of them. This gives quite a diffei'ent aspect to 

 the skull in the upper view. Supraorbital ledges strong and heavy, 

 even more so than in andersoni^ and much more than in gerbillus, 

 and with marked postorbital projecting angles, at least in the tj^pe, 

 which is an old individual. Molars remarkably small for the size 

 of the animal, and though the specimen is old and the teeth worn, 

 there does not seem evidence that they are materially shortened 

 antero -posteriorly . 



7)imensions of type: — 



Head and bod}", 94 mm. ; tail, 132 ; hindfoot, 26 ; ear. 13. 



Skull, greatest median length, 29-5 ; greatest diagonal length, 

 29-8; condylo-incisive length, 26; zygomatic breadth, 16-2; 

 nasals, 11-1, interorbital breadth, 5' 2 ; breadth of braincase, 13"8; 

 bi-meatal breadth, 15' 3 ; palatal foramina, 4*7 ; bulla, greatest 

 longitudinal diagonal length, 1 1 ; breadth at right angles to last 

 (exclusive of meatal projection), 6*4; upper molar series (worn), 3-4. 



Habitat. — Mesopotamia; exact locality not recorded. 



Type. — Adult male, B. M, No, 19.3.1.5, Lived for a short time 

 in confinement and died 21st August, 1917, in Bombay. Presented 

 by Major R. E. Cheesman. 



This Gerbil is practically indistinguishable externally from G. 

 andersoni, but is readily separable by its larger bulte and smaller 

 teeth. In the common G. gerhiUus the tail is more tufted and the 

 proximal part of the foot is peculiarly slender, with the distal part 

 broadened, while in andersoni and cheesmani, the proportions are 

 more normal. The Sind G. gleadowi is a less bright buffy and has 

 a tail nearly as much tufted as G. gerbillus. 



But in none of these allied species do the bullas project backwards 

 beyond the line of the occiput, as they do in G. cheesmani. 





7. 



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