210 



MISS DOROTHEA BATE ON A NEW GENUS 



range of species in neighbouring islands is always of interest, 

 which may perhaps make it worth mentioning here the present- 

 day distribution of Eliomys in the Balearics. Mr. Oldfield 

 Thomas has described E. gymnesicus* from Menorca, a species 

 smaller than, though similar in coloration to, E. quercinus, which, 

 in spite of this, he believes to be most nearly allied to the Southern 

 forms. In an earlier paper f the same author mentions that this 

 animal is also well known in Mallorca but is said not to occur in 

 Ibiza. Unfortunately I have not seen one from the larger island, 

 but in the British Museum there are now several specimens from 

 the small island of Formentera to the south-west of Ibiza, which 

 prove to belong to the large form E. lusitanicus which is found 

 on the neighbouring mainland of Spain. 



Remains of Muscardinidse are known only from European 

 deposits, and occur from Miocene times. Eliomys itself is repre- 

 sented by E. pomeli in the Lower Miocene of Allier, and by 

 E. hamadryas in the Middle Miocene of La Grive St. Alban and 

 Steinheim. Both species are of small size, and from the mandible 

 do not show any close affinity to the remains which form the 

 subject of this note, than which they would both appear to be 

 already more highly specialised. In the British Museum there 

 are two mandibular rami supposed to represent an Eliomys 

 from the Pleistocene of Malta (B.M. 49342c and 49351) J. These 

 are considerably more robust than in any recent member of the 

 genus, and are found to resemble in shape the Mallorcan speci- 

 mens and to be only slightly inferior in size, although the length 

 of the alveolar area is considerably less. Unfortunately none of 

 the cheek teeth are preserved, and the formation of the roots can- 

 not always be satisfactorily deduced 'from an examination of the 

 alveolar cavities, though in one of these specimens (B.M. 49351) 

 it seems that in the first and second molars the posterior roots 

 had become confluent as in the genus now to be described. These 

 specimens seem worth mentioning as suggesting a possible exten- 

 sion of the known distribution of the Balearic dormouse. So far 

 as I am aware, no other rodent remains have been described from 

 the Balearics, although so long ago as 1855 De la Marmora 

 wrote § that he had observed indications of an ossiferous breccia 

 in the hill of Belver near Palma, in which he had seen a bone 

 which seemed to belong to a Lagomys or to a rabbit. 



The following description of the most important specimens 

 obtained may be taken as applying to the genus so far as known 

 at present. It is proposed that the genus be known as 



Hypnomys, gen. nov. 



Skull, mandible, and limb-bones as in Eliomys but more robust ; 

 interorbital region wide and anterior portions of frontals greatly 



* Ann. Mag-. Nat. Hist, ser. 7, vol. xi. 1903, p. 494. 

 f Proc. Zool. Soc. 1901, p. 41. 



% Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus. Pt. i. p. 225 (1885) (as Myoxus sp.). 

 § Mem. Accad. Sc. Torino (ser. 1), vol. xxxvii. 1855, p. 59. 



