RODENTS OF LIBYA 



195 



Figure 42. — -Distribution of Spalax ehrenbergi aegyptiacus. 



41.2, 43.6, 42.8; length of diastema 14.2, 14.7, 15; basilar length of 

 skull 34, 35.7, 35.2; greatest breadth of rostrum 7.5, 8, 8.1. 



Diagnosis. Most distinctive feature is the featureless, cylindrical 

 body without a visible tail, and superficially appearing to lack eyes, 

 ears and nostrils; rostrum furnished with a hardened and slightly 

 enlarged cartilaginous plate beneath the skin and near the origin of 

 the vibrissae, which presumably aids in pushing and moving dirt in 

 the underground tunnels; vibrissae correspondingly small and fine 

 in texture; pelage short, dense, and silky and of almost uniform color 

 dorsally, varying in different specimens, however, among shades of 

 Ochraceous-Tawny, Sayal Brown, and Buckthorn Brown, and ven- 

 trally somewhat darker owing to less suffusion of these colors. In 

 older specimens, pelage becoming worn and somewhat darker owing 

 to greater exposure of the Plumbeous underfur; rostrum, in young 

 specimens, light gray in color, but, in old specimens, rostral, auricular, 

 and entire facial areas becoming a much darker gray; eyes not visible 

 externally, but present as small rudimentary structures in the usual 

 position in the orbit; pinnae of the ears, on close examination, present 

 as inconspicuous cartilaginous rings which are obscured by the dense 



