Descriptions of East Asiatic Mammals 255 
are long-legged, hopping animals with a strong likeness to the 
kangaroo-like Jerboas. The Voles, like the Hamsters, are short- 
tailed. Most of them strongly resemble our common Meadow 
Mice. 
THE HAMSTERS (AND MOST WILD AMERICAN LONG-TAILED 
mice) (subfamily cricetine) 
The Hamsters are typically chunky in body form and have 
very short tails. They, therefore, somewhat resemble the Voles 
and Meadow Mice. They have the tubercles of the molariform 
Fig. 57. Upper Right Teeth of (a) Cricetine, (b) Murine, and 
(c) Microtine Rats 
teeth arranged in two primary longitudinal rows (Fig. 57, a). 
In Asia they are found chiefly north of the Himalayas. 
In the New World the Cricetines, which extend to the south- 
ern tip of South America, are much more mouse-like. Only a 
few genera there have the tail shortened to any considerable 
degree. A cricetine of this more generalized type, Calomyscus of 
Persia, is extraordinarily similar to our American Deer Mice 
of the genus Peromyscus. It is interesting to note further that 
a fossil, Sigmodon atavus, representative of the American 
Cotton Rats, has been found in Mongolia. The True Hamsters, 
Cricetus, of Europe and western Asia, are unknown in eastern 
Asia. The Cricetine Mole Rats, Myospalax, represent an Old 
World branch of the subfamily that has gone in for subter- 
ranean existence. 
The Little Hamsters, Cricetulus, include many species and 
races. They occur neither south of the Himalaya Mountains nor 
farther north than southern Siberia. Their general appearance 
