ALLEN: MAMMALS OF THE PHILLIPS PALESTINE EXPEDITION. 5 



PsAMMOMYS OBESUS Cretzschmar. 



Sand Mouse. 



Psammomys obesus Cretzschmar, Riippell's Atlas reise nordl. Afrika. 

 Saugeth., 1826, p. 58, pi. 22, 23. 



At Ain xA.bu Heran, to the north of Akaba, Dr. PhilHps shot a sub- 

 adult male which seems referable to this species. The type locality 

 is Alexandria, so that this record extends its range well to the eastward. 

 The Museum has also a skin from Palestine, without definite locality, 

 but probably from near the southwest coast. The long-tailed P. 

 terraesandae of the Dead Sea region seems to be a species distinct from 

 the shorter-tailed obesus and algiricus. 



Meriones tristrami Thomas. 

 Tristram's Gerbil. 

 Meriones tristrami Thomas, Ann. mag. nat. hist., 1892, ser. 6, 9, p. 148. 



This species was first described on the basis of specimens from the 

 Dead Sea region and Mt. Carmel collected by Canon Tristram, 

 who referred it to M. tamaricinus. Nehring (Sitzb. Ges. naturf. 

 freunde Berlin, 1901, p. 171) records a specimen from the south of 

 Jaffa on the coast, west of the Dead Sea. 



On his way north from Akaba, Dr. Phillips first met with this 

 gerbil at Shobek, and on successive days, trapped it at Ain Gleidat 

 and Tafileh. The locality first-named, probably represents nearly 

 its southern limit, as it was not found on the high plateau country 

 to the south. Three individuals, not quite fully grown, lack the bright 

 sandy color of the adults, and are decidedly grayer. A young one 

 from Beir el Doleh, Syria, is more fulvous. 



Meriones crassus Sundevall. 



Silky Gerbil. 



Meriones crassus Sundevall, K. Vet. akad. Handl. for 1842, 1843, p. 233, pi. 2, 

 fig. 4, a-d. 



A single specimen sent by the Swedish traveller Hedenborg, served 

 as Sundevall's type of this remarkable species. Hedenborg's note 



