Prof. A. Nchrlng on Myodes leramus crassiJens. 293 



vertebiso and bones of tlie extremities, &c. These objects 

 were found by Dr. H. Gadow in 1886 at the back of a 

 perfectly dry cave at Athouguia, not far from Santarem. 

 The celebrated explorer wrote to me under the date of the 

 21st of February, 1899, as follows :— 



" The cave in question is situated on very hard Jurassic 

 limestone, about 50 to 100 feet above the bottom of a valley 

 watercourse, which is dry, except in winter and in the rainy 

 season : it runs horizontally into the mountain. 



"The cave in which the lemmings were found contains a 

 great quantity of quite dry reddish dust, and only on the surface 

 of the layer of dust was there a thin crust of a more solid 

 clayey nature that has arisen when the earth was somewhat 

 hygroscopic during the wet season of the year. The cave was 

 nearly full of dusty earth several feet deep. In this dust I 

 found the (lemming) mummies, never on the bed-rock 

 itself. Moreover, I found scattered bones rather near the 

 surface, among others the half maxilla of a very young bear, 

 in fact a suckling. On the surface at the back of the cave lay 

 bones of bats and some small bird-remains. 



" Quite near the entrance of the cave, but embedded in the 

 dust at a depth of some inches, I found a small flint arrow- 

 head, not polished but chipped. The bear's maxilla is (or 

 was) brown, pointing to its youthful condition : very porous." 



Dr. Gadow went on to say that no mystery or error 

 as to the original locality of the lemming-remains could 

 exist. He had himself discovered the cave in question, 

 which was situated in a most inhospitable region, and besides 

 his own workmen no one knew anything of his actions or 

 intentions. 



Hence there can be no doubt as to the situation of the 

 objects under consideration, neither also can the fact that they 

 belong to the genus Myodes, nor their near relationship to 

 the common Scandinavian species, be questioned. I have 

 had a fine set of material at hand for comparison — to wit, 

 ten skulls of Myodes lemmus, three skulls of Myodes schisti- 

 color, three skulls of Myodes ohensis, four skulls of Myodes 

 [Cimiculus) torquatus, four skulls oi Myodes layurus, &c., as 

 well as numerous fossil remains (mostly jaws) of Myodes 

 lemmus resp. obensis and M. torqualus. The result of the 

 comparison which I made is that I can confirm in every 

 way the points of osteological agreement already advanced by 

 Barrett-Hamilton between the above-mentioned Portuguese 

 lemmings and Myodes lemmus. The only noteworthy 

 differences that I have found in the case of the skull and 

 teeth consist in a somewhat broader form of the processus 



