Vol. XVi, pp. 161-164 November 30, 1903 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THK 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW MOLE RATS. 

 BY GERRIT S. MILLER, Jr, 



[By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.] 



Among the Old World rodents in the United States National 

 Museum are two forms of Spalax, which I am unable to iden- 

 tify with any of the species recently characterized by Nehring 

 and Satunin. One is from northern Dobrudscha, the other from 

 Beyrout, Syria, They may be described as follows: 



Spalax dolbrogeae, sp. now 



Type. — Adult male (skin and skull), No. 122,109, United States Na- 

 tional Museum. Collected at Malcociu, Dobrudscha, Rumania, March 

 20, 1903. Received from Wilhelm Schliiter of Halle, a. S., Germany. 



Characters. — A medium sized species nearly as large as Spalax micro- 

 ■phthalmus, which it resembles in the form of the molar teeth, but from 

 which it differs conspicuously in the much larger parietal bones. 



Color. — Back, sides, and posterior half of head ochraceous-buff, slight 1\ 

 paler than that of Ridgway, the fur everywhere slate-gray beneath sur- 

 face. Underparts and legs slate-gray, the color of sides extending as a 

 distinct wash across middle of body. Face, cheeks, and region aboui 

 mouth silvery drab-gray, the two lines of bristle-like hairs extending 

 back from muzzle whitish in rather marked contrast. 



Skull. — In general form the skull rather closely resembles that ol 



Spalax micropkthalm.u-g as figured by Nehring, but the lambdoid ridge is 



almost straight, and each parietal bone is nearly as broad as long, and in 



size fully equal to the two together in the skull of the larger animal. 



41 -Paoc. Bioc. Soc. Wash. Von. XVI, 1W3. (I6i> 



