a new Vole, from Fahstine. 451 



Skull and teeth like tliose of M. h/dii(s, witli tlie important 

 exception that the bullfB, altliough iinusufilly variable in size, 

 are conspicuously Jar^^er in most specimens and slightly 

 larger in all. Height from crown to molars markedly less 

 than in AI. hartivgi. 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Head and body 125 mm. ; tail 33 ; hind foot 20. 

 Skull : coiidylo-incisive length 29"7 ; zygomatic breadtli 

 16"5 ; nasals 8'2 x 3*9 ; length of brain-case from postorbital 

 angle backwards 13*6 ; palatilar length 14*8 ; diastema 9 ; 

 palatal foiamina 5*5 ; length of bulla from front of par- 

 occipital process in a straight line forwards 8'5 ; upper 

 molar series (crowns) 6*9. 



Hah. Ekron, S.E. of Jaffa, Palestine. 

 Tfipe. Adult male. B.M. no. 14. 1. 16. 1. Collected 

 1st December, 1913, by T. Aharoni. Presented by the Hon, 

 N. C. Rothschild. Six sjiecimens. 



From M. guentheri, Danf. & Alst., this species is distin- 

 guished by its longer tail, and from M. lydius by the various 

 characters above enumerated, notably by its larger bullse. 



AA'ith regard to the two voles from Palestine described 

 long ago by Brants & Wagner, ^^ Hypudceus syriacua^^ and 

 *^ Hy/'iidceus cinerascens*' the latter is soon disposed of, as it 

 is clearly a hamster (Criatulus), and not a vole at all. 

 Mr. Aharoni has sent examples from Jaffa agreeing with the 

 description in every detail. 



Microtus syriacus, from the Lebanon (Jide Matschie), is 

 said to be a greyish, not a sandy-brown, species, and the 

 accounts of the type sent me by Prof. Matschie sliow it to 

 have been smaller than AJ. pMlistinus (upper tooth-row 

 5'7 mm., diastema 6*9), and to have been apparently of a 

 different group of voles. For he says of the teeth that ?/<i 

 has only seven spaces, with four projecting angles on its outer 

 side, numbers never found in the present group, in which 

 nine spaces and five outer angles always occur. 



Whether M. syriacus may prove to be a young Chiono- 

 mys or some totally different form of vole, still remains to 

 be seen. Both Brants and Matschie have been struck by the 

 unusual length of its whiskers, the longest of which measures 

 36*5 mm. Those of 31. philistinus are of quite moderate 

 length. 



I have provisionally used a binomial for the Ekron vole, 

 but think it probable that it may grade into AJ. lydius and 

 guenthen\ the latter the earliest described of the group. 



