422 MR. E. T. NEWTON ON THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA [Aug. 1899^ 



follow the last-named author in regarding L. diluvianus as a^ 

 synonym of L. variabilis. 



The name of L. variahilis is used in this paper to indicate the 

 N"orthern species of hare, which was no doubt the form described 

 by Linnaeus under the name of L. timidus ; but the adoption of the 

 'latter name, which has for so long been used to indicate another 

 species, would only lead to endless confusion. 



12. Lepus ctjniculus, Linn. (Eabbit.) 



The presence of the bones of the rabbit was noted in my previous 

 paper ^ ; we now have a large maxilla with teeth and the fore part 

 of the palate. The narrowness of the posterior palatine vacuity,, 

 and the large part which the palatine bone takes in the formation 

 of the transpalatine bar, as well as the folding of the enamel of 

 the anterior cheek-tooth, show that this specimen belongs to a 

 rabbit and not to a hare. The condition of preservation of this 

 maxilla is the same as that of most of the bones from the Ightham 

 fissure. 



13. Spermophiltjs erythrogenoij)es, Palconer. (PI. XXYITI, figs. 



7-10.) 



Although several fragments of this genus had been found when 

 my earlier paper was published, none of them were sufficiently 

 perfect for specific determination. Mr. Frank Corner and Mr. Ken- 

 nard have now found a perfect right ramus of a lower jaw with aE 

 the teeth in place, and a large portion of a skull retaining on one 

 side its broad jugal arch : the maxillary process of this arch being 

 much expanded. A humerus, a scapula, and a fibula have alsQ 

 been found. 



.The lower-jaw ramus agrees with Falconer's^ figures of Spermo- 

 philus erythrogenoides and also with the lower jaws of SpermopTiilus 

 from Erith, obtained by Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell and presented by him 

 to the Museum of Practical Geology ; but none of the Pleistocene 

 specimens that I have had the opportunity of examining are so perfect 

 as this one from the Ightham fissure. When viewed from the side, 

 the proportions of the articular, coronoid, and angular processes are 

 the same as in Falconer's fig. 2, and the obliquity of the articular 

 surface is likewise similar. The angular process is directed outwards, 

 and the lower and hinder part of the well-defined masseter-disc is 

 turned so strongly inward as to become almost horizontal. The 

 inward turning of the lower margin is not shown in Falconer's 

 figures, but that is probably due to imperfection in this region, 

 as it is a characteristic of the living species. 



The appended measurements of the Ightham ramus may be com- 

 pared with those given by Falconer of a specimen from the Mendip 

 Hills ijoc. supra cit.) and by Nehring ^ of an example at Jena. 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. 1 (1894) p. 194. 



2 . Palaeont. Memoirs,' toI. ii (1868) pi. xxxv, figs. 1-3. 

 ' Neues Jahrb. vol. ii (1880) p. 121. 



