40 Miller — A JVeia Dormouse from Ifahj. 



wood-brown areas cause the slight dift'erences in color of the back and 

 sides. Color of sides continued down outer side of hind leg to heel and 

 outer side of front leg nearlj' to wrist. Underparts whitish cream-color, 

 the line of demarkation everywhere sharply defined and the contrasts 

 conspicuous. Black face markings exactly as in Eliomys quercinus. 

 Tail sharply bicolor from base to a little beyond middle, cream.y white 

 below, wood-brown mixed with white above. Slightly beyond middle 

 there is a rather sudden change both above and below to black. This 

 color continues uninterrupted for a distance of about 20 mm. on lower 

 side and on upper side to base of terminal, nearly clear white pencil. 

 The entire white area at tip of tail is abjut 10 mm. in length above and 

 30'mm. below. While the black of the vipper surface extends further 

 back than that below, the reverse is true of that of the under side of the 

 tail. This shows a distinct tendency to run forward along the median 

 line and divide the white area into two lateral stripes. Feet dull white. 

 Ears thinly sprinkled with minute whitish hairs. 



Skull and teeth. — I can find no tangible characters to distinguish the 

 skull and teeth from those of EUomyx qrierdnun. 



Measurement!^. — External measurements of type: total length, 249; 

 head and body, 136: tail vertebrae, 108; hind foot, 29 (2S). A second 

 specimen (rf ) from the type locality: total length, 254: head and body, 147; 

 tail vertebr;e, 107; hind foot, 30 (29). The hind foot in each of two 

 other topotypes measures 30 (29). One of these specimens is a female. - 



Cranial measurements of type: greatest length, 34; basal length, 29; 

 basilar length, 2(5.4; greatest length of nasals, 12.4; greatest width of 

 both nasals together, 4.4; median palatal length, 12.8; greatest breadth 

 of palate between toothrows, 4; diastema, 8; zygomatic breadth, 19; 

 least interorbital breadth, 4.6; breadth of braincase above roots of zygo- 

 mata, 14.8; mastoid breadth, 16.6; least depth of rostrum behind inci- 

 sors, 6; distance from middle of parietal to loAver edge of audital bulla, 

 13.2; mandible, 17; maxillary toothrow (alveoli), 5.4; mandibular tooth- 

 row (alveoli), 5.2. Another skull (male) is somewhat larger: greatest, 

 length, 36; basal length, 31; maxillary toothrow, 5.8. 



Hpecimens examined. — Five, all from the type locality. 



Remarks. — Aside from the dilTerent color pattern of the tail this 

 animal differs from Eliomys quercinus in the strong wood-brown of the 

 upper parts and the very distinct cream color of the ventral surface. In 

 E. quercinus the underparts are clear white slightly tinged with blue, 

 while the white of the tail is all pure. In the Italian animal the only 

 marking that approaches pure white is the terminal area of the tail. 

 From Eliomys pallidus this species differs in the brown (not "light pow- 

 dery-looking gray") underparts, distinct black head markings, sharp 

 line of demarkation along sides, and as the description contains no refer- 

 ence to the color pattern of tail, probably in this character as well. 



