611 



Fig. 121. 



Skeleton of fore foot of 

 Lemmus (a) and Myopus (b). 



Genus MYOPDS Miller. 



1910. Myopus Miller, Smithsonian Misoell. Coll., lii, p. 497, January 12, 

 1910. 



Type species. — Myodes schisticolor Lilljeborg. 



Geographical distribution. — Southern Norway and central 

 Sweden ; eastward into Finland and perhaps much further. 

 Limits of range not known. 



Characters. — Skull and teeth as in Lemmus ; general form 

 vole-like, though tail rather short ; feet 

 slender, the palm and sole with fully 

 developed, functional tubercles and no 

 unusual growth of hair ; metacarpals of 

 third and fourth fingers slightly longer 

 than phalanges ; ungual phalanges of 

 ruanus normal, much shorter than first 

 and second phalanges combined, the 

 claws not enlarged ; ear well developed 

 though small, with distinct meatal valve. 



BemarTcs. — The genus Myopus is 

 characterized by the combination of the 

 skull and teeth of Lemmus with the 

 general body-form and foot structure of 



the voles. It is, therefore, less specialized than the other Old 

 World lemmings, representing a stage of development equivalent 

 to that of the American Synaptomys. Only one species is 

 known. 



MYOPUS SCHISTICOLOR Lilljeborg. 



1814. Myodes schisticolor Lilljeborg, Ofversigt af Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akad. 

 Forhandl., Stockholm, I, p. 33, March 20, 1844. 



1910. Lemmus schisticolor Trouessart, Faune Mamm. d'Europe, p. 199. 



1911. Myopus schisticolor Collett, Norges Pattedyr, Hefte 3, p. 130 



March, 1911. 



Type locality. — Near Lillehammer at north end of Mjosen, 

 Gudbrandsdal, Norway. 



Geographical distribution. — Fir forests of southern Norway 

 and central Sweden ; eastward into Finland and perhaps much 

 further.* Exact limits of range not known. 



Diagnosis. — General characters as in the genus ; size 

 essentially as in M icrotus agrestis (head and body about 100 mm. ; 

 condylobasal length of skull, 25 mm.) ; tail short, extending 

 barely as far as outstretched hind foot ; colour slaty grey with 

 reddish brown dorsal patch. 



* Recorded by Middendorfi from Ajan, west coast of the Okhotsk Sea 

 (Sibirische Reise, n, Saugethiere, Vogel und Amphibien, p. 108, 1853). 

 The validity of this record questioned by Allen (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., xix, pp. 153, 154, March 31, 1903). 



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