Miss D. Bate— A New Vole from Malta. 209 



our knowledge of the fauna in question, it may be worth while to 

 record the following notes. 



Mammalia-. 



Mammalia are represented by fragmentary remains of Cervus 

 elaphus, var. barbarus, of two species of rodents and of a small 

 fox. Included among the rodent remains is a right femiir of an 

 immature animal, and this appears to agree most closely with that 

 of Rattus. which has not been recorded previously from the cave 

 deposits, but two species of which, R. decumanus and R. alexandrimts, 

 are recorded in Dr. Gulia's list of the recent mammals of the 

 Maltese Islands.' 



Another species is represented by a left and right mandibular 

 ramus, the former containing the incisor only, while the latter still 

 retains the two anterior cheek teeth as well as the incisor. There 

 are also two right femora and a tibia, which seem to belong to the 

 same species. The mandibular rami have been compared with those 

 of several species both recent and extinct, and so far as can be 

 judged from such scanty material they appear to represent an un- 

 described species most nearly allied to Arvicola {Tyrrhemcoki) 

 henseli Major, from the Pleistocene ossiferous breccias of Sardinia.^ 

 It is proposed that the Maltese species be known as — 



Arvicola melitensis, sp.n. 



The characters of the lower jaw and teeth show it to be closely 

 allied to A. (T.) henseli, from which it may be readily distinguished 

 by its considerably smaller size. Owing to the imperfect state of 

 the specimens it is difficult to give comparative measurements 

 other than the antero-j)osterior length of the first two cheek teeth, 

 which in A. henseli is 5'5 mm. and in A. melitensis 4*5 mm. 

 Although possibly not a constant character, it may be worth 

 mentioning that in Dr. Forsyth Major's figure ^ of the crown-pattern 

 of the lower dentition of A. henseli the whole of the dentine area 

 of the anterior loop is confluent, whereas this loop in A. melitensis 

 is practically divided into two parts (see Text-figure). 



As in .4. henseli the lower cheek teeth in A. melitensis are rather 

 wide crowned, and the enamel is somewhat thinner than in the 

 recent Pitymys. Dr. Forsyth Major's subgenus, Tyrrhenicola, 

 was based chiefly on cranial characters, and it will be interesting to 

 see if further material from Malta bears out the close relationship 

 indicated by the lower jaw. 



Other mammalian remains consist of the anterior half of a left 

 lower carnassial, a left lower canine, and a number of imperfect 

 limb bones of a small species of Vulpes. These, as also some 

 specimens belonging to the Manchester Museum kindly lent by 

 Mr. J. Wilfrid Jackson, have been carefully compared with many 



' Ninth International Zool. Congress, Monaco, 1913, pp. 545-55. 

 - Geol. Mag., 1905, p. 504. 

 ' Loe. eit., p. 505. 

 vol. lvii. — no. X. 14 



