referred to the Uenus Moiioiie^j. 2G5 



tlie sinall-bulla species with almost no black on tlie tail, later 

 obtaincil by Dr. Aiuleisou near Aliixamlria. 



This case of tnelanurus is a strikiii<; example of the advisa- 

 bility of selecting ty[)e3, a plan still resisted by naturalists of 

 backward tendencies. Rup[)ell was little to blamo for mixing 

 up the two species, which are really very similar to each 

 other ; but had he selected an individual type to represent 

 his name, all the confusion that has surrounded it would have 

 been avoided. 



In the Sudan there occurs the gerbil to which Bonhote has 

 npj)lied the naino M. cnissus pdlliduSy a form belonging to 

 the a group, and undoubtedly vevy nearly allied to the true 

 crasstts of Sinai, but widely different from Lower Egyptian 

 lorms to which that name lias becMi applied. 



Further eastwards material does not exist for any general 

 review, but a number of local forms have proved to need 

 description. It may, however, be noted that the Meriones of 

 Asia Minor and Palestine seem to be mostly of the d group, 

 while the remarkable .1/. caluni^ of Kgypt and Sinai has the 

 bullae of the size found in group c, though the suprameatal 

 triangle is unusually small. 



With regard to the aberrant .\f. Inirriaiue of Baluchistan 

 and N.W. India, I find that instead of being distinctly a 

 desert animal, with light skull, large bullae, and short normal 

 claws, it is modified for a burrowing life by having a heavy 

 bowed skull, small bulho, and elongated digging fore-claws. 

 It appears to me, therefore, that it ought to be generically 

 separated from the other members of the group, and I would 

 propose for it the name of Cheliones*. 



Meriones pcdHdus Iripolius, subsj). n. 



Group a. Like Sudan pallidas in all essential particulars, 

 but the general colour slightly warmer, often approaching 

 cinnamon-buff", and usiuilly getting a little darker towards 

 the base of the tail. Under suiiace usually white to the 

 bases of the hairs, but sometimes tluy are pale slaty basally 

 White ear-patches larger and more conspicuous, generally too 

 large to be hidden Ijy the ear when this ia fohled backwards. 

 Tail-tuft short and little developed, its hairs scarcely exceeding 

 10 mm. ; the main part of the tail [)inUish buff or cinnamon- 

 buff, and equally buffy below ; in j-nUidiis it is markedly 

 lighter, often white, below. 



Skull as in pallidns. 



* Durived from xn^n, exactly as .l/< rinnvs i» from /«f;oos. 



