186 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 75 



in a uniformly variegated appearance; circumoral and rostral areas 

 grading from Pinkish Buff to Cinnamon-Buff; area between ears 

 and eyes washed with gray and appearing as a faint patch above the 

 eye; scapular and pectoral areas, chin and upper surfaces of front 

 legs and feet suffused with varying amounts of Pinkish Buff and 

 Light Pinkish Cinnamon; forefeet sparsely haired ventrally with 

 five digits bearing dark-colored claws. Hind feet Pale Pinkish Buff 

 dorsally, richly haired ventrally except for a bare area near the 

 heel, and with five digits with dark-colored claws; pinna of ear mod- 

 erately haired, becoming darker distally and approaching Saccardo's 

 Umber, with a conspicuous row of buffy hairs along entire antero- 

 lateral surface; eye ring black; vibrissae formed of both black and 

 white hairs and projecting backward to the level of the ears; tail 

 Cinnamon and appearing somewhat bicolored owing to strong ad- 

 mixtures of blackish hairs dorsally and with a distinct black pencil 

 confined to the dorsal surface for about the distal one-fourth. Skull: 

 Small in size; auditory bullae short and expanded ventrally; zygomatic 

 arches wide; anterior palatine foramina wide; suprameatal triangles 

 round in shape with posterior processes imperfectly closed. 



Comparisons. From near topotypes of Meriones libycus libycus 

 from various localities in western coastal Egypt, the type specimen 

 and a paratype of Meriones libycus azizi have significantly smaller 

 cranial and external measurements and shorter and more inflated 

 auditory bullae. In color, the two subspecies are quite similar. 



For comparison with Meriones libycus auratus, see account of that 

 subspecies. 



Remarks. The specimens from near Coefia and Benghazi are all 

 immature, but in having distinct postauricular spots and slightly 

 paler dorsal color, they suggest intergradation with M. I. auratus 

 to the south and west. 



An adult female, 325604, from 20 kilometers east of Tobruch is 

 noticeably paler and more grayish in dorsal color and has a more 

 reduced pencil than the two specimens from the type locality. In 

 these characters, this specimen resembles neither typical M. I. libycus 

 nor M. I. azizi, but because of its small cranial and body size and the 

 geographic position of the collecting locality, it is here included with 

 the latter subspecies. 



With the exception of a single specimen from near Maraua, this 

 subspecies is known only from the Mediterranean littoral of northern 

 Cyrenaica. In these coastal areas, members of this subspecies occur 

 with Meriones caudatus, Jaculus orientalis, Jaculus deserti, Gerbillus 

 eatoni, and several species of dipodil gerbils. 



