1840. ? Ommatostei gus Nordmann in Keyserling and Blasius, Wirbelthiere 

 Europas, pp. vn, 31 (0. pallasii Nordmann). Nomen nudum. 



1898. Microspalax Nehring, Sitz.-Ber., Gesellsch. Naturforsch. Freunde, 

 Berlin, for December 21, 1897, p. 168 (Provisional sub-generic 

 name for smaller species of Spalax). Not Microspalax Trouessart, 

 1885. 



1903. Nannospalax Palmer, Science, N.S., xvn, p. 873, May 29, 1903 

 (Substitute for Microspalax Nehring). 



Type species. — Spalax microphthalmus Gueldenstaedt. 



Geographical distribution. — South-eastern Europe and adjoin- 

 ing portions of Asia ; south into Egypt. Limits of range 

 imperfectly known. 



Characters. — Essential characters as in the family Spalacidse. 

 Fur soft and velvety except for a conspicuous line of stiffened 

 bristles extending backward along each side of head from outer 

 extremity of naked muzzle pad. Pattern of enamel folding at 

 first sigmoid, but later, as the crowns of the teeth wear away, 

 undergoing considerable changes in form, the re-entrant folds 

 tending to become isolated as enamel islands (fig. 184, p. 893). 



Remarks. — The members of the genus Spalax are immediately 

 recognizable among European rodents by their complete adapta- 

 tion to underground life, the absence of external eyes and tail, 

 and the presence of the peculiar line of stiffened bristles on each 

 side of head. About a dozen species have been described ; two of 

 these inhabit south-eastern Europe west of the Russian boundary, 

 while a third, of uncertain status, is supposed to occur in Greece. 



KEY TO THE EUROPEAN SPECIES OF SPALAX* 



Skull not unusually deep, the distance from alveolus 

 of m 3 to sagittal crest about 39 per cent of 

 condylobasal length ; width of auditory bulla 

 about 7 mm. ; greatest width of infraorbital 

 foramen slightly more than half its height 



(Roumania and Bulgaria) S. dolbrogeie, p. 889. 



Skull unusually deep, the distance from alveolus of 

 to 3 to sagittal crest about 43 per cent of condy- 

 lobasal length; width of auditory bulla about 

 8 mm. ; greatest width of infraorbital foramen 

 conspicuously more than half height. 

 Breadth of rostrum in adult male about 11 mm. ; 

 alveolar breadth of ra 1 equal to least palatal 



width (Hungary) S. hungaricus, p. 894. 



Breadth of rostrum in adult male about 12 mm. ; 

 alveolar breadth of m 1 less than least palatal 

 width (Greece?) S. grrecus, p. 895. 



* The important work by Dr. L. Mehely on this genus — Species generis 

 Spalax. A Poldi Kutyak Pajai, Budapest, 1909 — has unfortunately been 

 received too late to be utilized by the author.— 0. T. (See Appendix, 

 p. 1000.) 



