198 MICROTIN^ 



sufficiently important to enable me to separate the two speci- 

 fically." 



In 1899 Neliring published a detailed account (Wiegmann's 

 Archiv f. Naturgesch., 56, p. 175) of these Lemming remains 

 together with some further particulars concerning the caves at 

 Athouguia furnished by Dr. Gadow. Finding that the cheek- 

 teeth were relatively larger and especially broader than usual in 

 L. lemmus, and fancying that he could see some differences in 

 the form of the coronoid processes of the mandible, Nehring 

 referred the remains to a new subspecies his Myodes lemmus 

 crassidens. 



The " Portuguese " Lemmings met with a mixed reception, 

 some hke Dr. ScharfE (Hist. European Fauna, 1899, p. 139; 

 European Animals, 1907, p. 97) welcoming them as corroboration 

 of certain theories of geographical distribution, others like Dr. 

 Forsyth Major thinking that some mistake must have been 

 made, the occurrence of any species of Lemmus in Portugal 

 being " a faunistic impossibility." 



In 1912 (Catal. Mamm. W. Europe, p. 623) MiUer said :— 

 " Through the courtesy of the authorities of the Cambridge 

 Museum I have been able to compare the original crassidens 

 material with a series of seventeen skulls of true lemmus in the 

 British Museum. As submitted to me this material consisted of 

 three perfect skulls (including the type), one skull without lower 

 jaw, one rostral portion of skull together with palate and 

 maxillary teeth, two complete lower jaws, and one single mandible, 

 the whole representing not less than six nor more than eight 

 individuals. The specimens are well preserved, with most of the 

 teeth in place, and have all the appearance of fresh material. 

 In size and form the skulls show no peculiarities. No old 

 individuals are represented ; the measurements therefore do not 

 attain the maximum. . . . The coronoid processes are broken 

 at the tip, giving them the short, blunt appearance noted by 

 Nehring. In one complete skull and the old mandible the teeth 

 are of the same size as in ordinary average specimens of true 

 lemmus; in the type they equal those of the largest-toothed 

 Norwegian specimen in the series (from Molmen, northern Gud- 

 brandsdal) ; in one complete skull, one skull without lower jaw, 

 and one odd lower jaw they are slightly above the maximum 

 for lemmus; while in the fragmentary skull and two odd jaws 

 they are decidedly above the maximum. That is, assuming 

 that eight individuals are represented, three are perfectly matched 

 among the seventeen Scandinavian specimens, while five are not. 

 This makes it impossible at present to synonymize crassidens 

 with lemmus. On the other hand, it seems almost equally 

 impossible to believe that the specimens came from Portugal, 

 and that some confusion of material did not take place during 

 the period when Dr. Gadow's Athouguia mummies, regarded as 

 ' unimportant,' were * put aside.' " 



