116 



U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 275 



The subspecies name psammophilous, from the Greek meaning 

 "sand lover," suggests a predilection of members of this subspecies 

 for habitats of a sandy character. 



Gerbillus pyramidum E. Geoffroy 



Gerbillus pyramidum E. Geoffroy, Catalogue des mammiferes du Museum Na- 

 tional d'Histoire Naturelle, p. 202, 1803 (near Pyramids of Giza, Giza 

 Province, Egypt). 



General distribution of species. Israel, Sinai, Egypt, Libya, 

 Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco; southward throughout the Sahara to 

 central Sudan, Chad (Tibesti Mountain Area) , Niger, and Mauritania. 



Distribution in Libya. Desert and coastal regions of Tripolitania 

 and throughout the Fezzan. (Only a single specimen is known from 

 Cyrenaica.) 



Distribution of the subspecies in Libya. 



Gerbillus pyramidum hamadensis. Tripolitania: Coastal areas and 

 interior deserts of Tripolitania north of the Gebel es Soda and Hamada 

 de Tinrhert. 



Gerbillus pyramidum tarabuli. Fezzan. 



Figure 21.— Distribution of the subspecies of Gerbillus pyramidum. 



