Species of M'lcrotns from Asia Minor. 427 



Skull. — It is difficult to compare this with that of M. guen- 

 theri, as the skulls of both specimens of the latter at the 

 British Museum are broken and the posterior parts missing. 

 The length of the molar series is approximately the same. 

 Pattern of molars about as in M. guentheri, but tlie angles of 

 the enamel folding less strongly acute or sharply pointed, 

 and more rounded, and the dentine spaces slightly wider in 

 relation to width of the enamel — a fact difficult to explain, 

 but readily discernible to the eye. This is particularly 

 evident in the tirst fold in the upper molar series. 



Dimensions of the type (as measured in the flesh) : — 



Head and body 115 mm.; tail 2Q', hind foot 18; ear 11. 



Skull : Condylo-incisive length 27'6 ; basilar length 24*0 ; 

 greatest zygomatic breadth 15"7 ; width of brain-case 12*0 ; 

 interorbital breadth 4*0 ; nasals 7*8, palatilar length 13"0 ; 

 length of molar series 6"5 ; diastema 8*4 ; palatal foramina 

 4" 7. The auditory bulliB are rather small and slightly 

 flattened on the exterior side. 



Hah. Smyrna. Alt. 400 ft. " Trapped in an olive 

 grove." 



Type. Toung adult male. B.M. no. 5. 10. lo.^. Original 

 number 46. Collected September 20, 1905. Presented by 

 W. F. Griffitt Blackler. 



Two more specimens of an adult male and old female were 

 examined, but unfortunately the skull of the former was not 

 preserved, owing to having been badly smashed by the trap. 

 This specimen, caught in January, is larger than the type — 

 measuring,, head and body 122 mm., tail 29 — and the colour- 

 ing is not quite so bright, probably owing to seasonal change. 



This vole is distinguishable from M. guentheri and 

 M. hartingi, the only two species to which it is at all nearly 

 related, by \\\e complete absence of any yellowish or buffy 

 tinge on the greyish white of the underparts, the longer tail, 

 and the colouring of the upper sides of the feet, besides the 

 slight variation in the molar teeth. 



I originally intended making it a subspecies of M. guentheri, 

 but, on examining the type of M. hartingi from Thessaly, 1 

 have come to the conclusion that it presents even greater 

 differences from either of these two than these do from each 

 other, in general appearance as well as by the characteristics 

 enumerated above, and 1 consider it therefore as deserving 

 of full specific rank. 



