1896.] SiCBtETAt UBHAINS of I'ttB NOEWAV LEMMING. 306 



Kolii Peninsula, it does not seem to habitually appear so far east- 

 ward as Archangel. Thus the present southern range of the 

 animal does not extend below about 58|° North latitude. We 

 know, however, that in recent geological times it had a much 

 more southern distribution, extending at least as far as the south 

 of England and Saxony, since its remains have been found in the 

 Somersetshire caves, six lower jaws from which, now iu the 

 Taunton Museum, were identified by Sandford'. These bones 

 are said to be slightly smaller and to have the condyles more 

 slender than those of recent specimens, but to agree very closely 

 with them, especially with the skulls of young animals '. The 

 only other locality where, so far as I am aware, the bones of this 

 species have been found is at Quedlinburg, in Saxony, where 

 HenseP found it, together with 31. torqiiatus, in 1855, among fossils 

 from the diluvium. The present discovery will therefore show 

 that the range of the Norway Lemming extended formerly to at 

 least nearly tlie south of the Iberian Peninsula, and that, too, 

 judging from the fresh appearance of the remains, in quite recent 

 geological times. 



The present skulls resemble those of recent Lemmings very 

 closely indeed, but, like the specimens found in the Somersetshire 

 caves, they are smaller than those of large adult recent animals. 

 I cannot, however, find any characters sufficiently important to 

 enable me to separate the two specifically. 



In conclusion, I should like to draw attention to the following 

 statement, which is to be found on pages 147 and 148 of Messrs. 

 Abel Chapman and W. J. IBuck's work on ' Wild Spain' (chapter 

 xii.). Writing of Ibex-shooting in the Sierra de Grddos of Old 

 Castile, these authors remark : — " One day, close to the snow- 

 line, we came across a fat, blue-grey, little beastie, apparently of 

 the Dormouse tribe (Liron, in Spanish), but he got to earth, or 

 rather rock, ere we could capture him." This description is too 

 vague to enable me to do more than to make a suggestion, and 

 the suggestion that Lemmings exist in Spain at the present 

 day is too startling to be lightly brought forward ; but I should 

 like to point out that the description would apply very well to 

 Myodes scJiisticolor — a species which (if it really be a good species) 

 is, I believe, only distinguishable from M. lemmus by its bluish- 

 grey colour. 



At all events, in view of Dr. Gadow's remarkable discovery of 

 fresh-looking Lemming bones on comparatively low ground, it 

 would be interesting to know what is the true nature of the 

 " fat, blue-grey, little beastie " ; and I venture to express a hope 

 that this animal will be found to be a Lemming or a Vole, and 



' W. A. Sandford, in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxvi, (1870), p. 125, 

 pi. viii. llg. 3 ; and Dove, Somerset. Nat. Hist. Soe. vol. xv. (1870), p. 55. 



' H. P. Blackmore and E. R. Aston, in 1'. Z. S. 1874, pj). 460-471. 



' Zeitsohr. deutsch. geol. Gegell. vii. (1855), pp. 458-501 ; also at Wolfen- 

 biittel, A. Nehring in Zeitsehr. fiir ges. Natiirwis. Bd. xlv. p. 1 (1875), and in 

 Kent, E. T. Newton, (Jeol. Mag. 1890, p. 452, and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 

 vol. 1. p. 188 (1894). 



Peoc. Zool. Soc— 1896, No. XX. 20 



