i6- FAUNA AND FLORA OF PALESTINE. 



65. Myoxus nitela. Schreb. Mamm. iv., tab. 226. 



This smaller species seem in Palestine to prefer cultivated ground, 

 living chiefly in the olive groves. 



It is a resident in Southern and Central Europe ; found further north 

 than the preceding species. 



66. Myoxus dryas. (?) Schreb. Mamm. iv., tab. 225. B. 



There is a third species of smaller Dormouse, differing in its habits 

 from the former, and making its nest in very low thick bushes in the 

 desert regions. There can be, I think, little doubt but that it must be 

 assigned to this species, unless it be new, which is scarcely probable. It 

 is an Arabian species. 



67. EUomys melanuriis. Wagn. Abhandl. Akad. Wiss. iii. 176. 



Plate IV. i. 

 This beautiful little desert rodent, a link between the Dormouse and 

 the Squirrel, I twice obtained among ruins on the upland plain of Moab. 

 It inhabits holes in the rocks, and, until we found it, was only known by 

 the two type specimens procured by Von Schubart on Sinai. 



Note. — By far the richest part of the Fauna of the desert region 

 adjacent to Palestine is its rodents, and it is certain that of these we know 

 the least. Almost all the small Mammals of the stony region south of 

 Judsea, and of the vast sandy and rocky expanses which stretch from 

 Moab to Damascus, are crepuscular or nocturnal in their habits. Ex^jlorers 

 are well content if they can by great good fortune shoot or trap a chance 

 specimen ; but it is impossible for them to note, still less to study, the 

 habits of these most interesting creatures. The list I have given includes 

 thirty-one species obtained by myself; but I am satisfied it could be very 

 largely increased with time and opportunity, for I have observed many 

 species I could not succeed in capturing, especially Dormice and Hamsters. 

 One might easily be accused of exaggeration in describing the countless 

 number of holes and burrows in regions which for a great part of the year 

 present the features of utter desert. Sometimes for miles a district has 



