a new Vule from Pahstine. ^^■^» 



Skull and teeth like those of ilA. hjdius, with the important 

 exception that tlie Imlke, altliough unusually variable in size, 

 are conspicuously larger in most specimens and sligiitly 

 larger in all. Height from crown to molars markedly less 

 than in 3/. hartingi. 



Dimensions of the type : — 



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

 Skull : condyio-incisive length 29*7 ; zygomatic breadth 

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

 ajigle backwards 13'6 ; palatilar length 14*8 ; diastema 9 ; 

 palatal foramina 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. 

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

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

 N. C. Rothschild. Six specimens. 



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

 guished by its longer tail, and from M. li/dius by the various 

 characters above enumerated, notably by its larger bullse. 



With regard to the two voles from Palestine described 

 long ago by Brants & Wagner, " Hypudceus syriaciis " and 

 ^^ Hyindceus cinerascens'' the latter is soon disposed of, as it 

 is clearly a hamster (^Cricetulus)^ and not a vole at all. 

 Mr. Aharoni has sent examples from Jaffa agreeing with the 

 description in every detail. 



Microtus syriaciis^ 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 show it to 

 have been smaller than M. philistinus (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 mi 

 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. 



W' hether 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 M. 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 

 guentheri^ the latter the earliest described of the group. 



