Dr. C. I. Forsi/th Major — On Fossil Dormice. 495 



It seems probable that Deperet's Myoxus niteloides from La Grive- 

 Saint-Alban^ is likewise a sjnonym of our Muscnrdinus Sansaniensis, 

 a view which Deperet himself advocates in his later publication^ by 

 uniting his species with Mijoxus Sansaniensis, Lart., from Sansan. 

 But neither the description nor the figures are sufficiently accurate 

 to decide the matter. 



Hofmann' has described two fragmentary lower molars from the 

 ]\Iiddle Miocene of Goriach and recognized them as belonging to 

 Muscnrdimis. He proposes a new specific name, M. Zitteli, under 

 the belief that they are a new form, but they belong undoubtedly to 

 the species described by Lartet. The two molars are said to be 

 from the left lower jaw ; on p. 43 of the text they are referred to 

 as m. 2 and m. 3, in the table of measurements of p. 44 and on 

 the plate as m. 1 and m. 2. M. 1 (m. 2 of p. 43), at any rate the 

 anterior one of the two according to the text and the plate, is 

 incomplete on the outer side and slightly longer than the other 

 (1'5 : 1-0 mm.). Taking into consideration that in the description of 

 the teeth it is stated that their intermediate crests are near the inner 

 side, it results from the inspection of the enlarged fig. 16 that the 

 one marked m. 2 in the figure is in reality the anterior one, and 

 therefore m. 1 ; the other, which is slightly longer and damaged on 

 the outer side, marked m. 1, is the posterior of the two. This is on 

 the assumption that the teeth are really from the left lower jaw, 

 as seems most probable. As stated above, in a mandibular ramus 

 from La Grive, m. 2 is slightly larger and also longer than m. 1. 

 Hofmann's further description agrees with Muscardinus Sansaniensis 

 from Sansan and La Grive. 



2. Eltomys Hamadrtas, sp.n. 



Myoxus Sansaniensis, Schlosser : Palseontogr., vol. xxxi (1884), 

 p. 97 (79), pi. vi (ii), fig. 46. 



The assumption that all the Middle Miocene Myoxidte are a single 

 species, viz., the one from Sansan, called Myoxus Sansaniensis by 

 Lartet, rests on the foregone but, as before stated, quite unjustifiable 

 conclusion, that Gervais' figures of the latter form are inaccurate. 

 Fraas, who was the first to assign this name to Myoxine remains 

 from Steinheim,* gives no other reason for this identification. Since 

 Steinheim has a considerable amount of mammalian species in 

 common with Sansan and La Grive, it is quite possible that the 

 small Muscardinus of the two latter localities may occur in the former 

 also. But it is very difficult to understand what Fraas had before 

 him, for his statement goes no further than to assert that his fossils 

 from Steinheim belong to the Myoxidfe family : "Die Faltung des 

 Kronenschmelzes ist die der lebenden Arten." From the dimensions 



1 Arch. Mus. Lyon, iv (1887), p. 154. 



■ lb., V (1892), p. 51. 



^ A. Hofmann, " Die Fauna von Goriach " : Abh. k. k. Geol. Eeichsanst , 

 XV (1893), 6, p. 43, pi. iii, figs. 15. 16. 



* (). Fraas, "Die Fauna von Steinheim" : Wiirttemb. Natiurw. Jahresh., xxvi 

 (1870), p. ISO. 



