Vol. XI, pp. 77-87 April 21, 1897 



PROCEEDINGS 



x^r 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



SYNOPSLS OF THE VOLES OF THE GENUS 

 PHENACOMYS. 



BY GERRIT S. MILLER, Jr. 



With the possible exception of some bones and teeth found in 

 a cave in southern Hungary and described by Nehring in 1883, 

 no specimens of voles of the genus Phenacomys were brought to 

 notice until about eight years ago. In October, 1889, Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam first defined the genus and described four si>ecimens, 

 two from Labrador, one from Quebec, and one from Britisli (Co- 

 lumbia, each of which he made the type of a new species. In 

 1890 Mr. F. W. True described a fifth species from Oregon. A 

 year later Dr. Merriam discovered still another in Idaho. In 

 1894 Dr. J. A. Allen described a seventh form supposed to be 

 from the Black Hills of South Dakota. During the following 

 year Mr. S. N. Rhoads named an eighth from British Columbia. 

 Finally, Dr. Merriam has recently described a ninth species from 

 Colorado. In addition to these descriptions of new species, 

 several minor references to the genus have been published. Of 

 these the most important is that by Nehring, in which tlie re- 

 mains from the cave in southern Hungary, already referred to, 

 are determined as those of Phenacomy.s.^^ 



As might be inferred from this summary, the material by which 

 the genus is represented in collections has greatly increased since 

 the first s[)ecimens were described. Now there are not far from 



* Full references to all these papers are given in the bibliography at the 

 end of this article. 



18— Biol. Soc. Wash, Vol. XI, 1897 (77) 



