212 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 75 



It is possible that these mice occur more abundantly in rocky 

 environments and that the oases may represent marginal habitats. 

 Rocky areas are not uncommon in Libya, but owing to their seemingly 

 desolate and barren appearance, trapping efforts in them are minimal 

 and may account for the sporadic representation of this species in 

 Libya. 



According to Setzer (1959), this species is almost exclusively 

 commensal throughout its range in the Nile Valley and Delta. In 

 Libya, spiny mice apparently have not developed this intimate 

 relationship with man, although frequently gerbils (Gerbillus) and 

 jirds (Meriones) were purchased from the local inhabitants of the 

 oases and had presumably been living commensally with them. 



Family Gliridae 



Genus Eliomys Wagner 



Eliomys quercinus (Linnaeus) 



Mus quercinus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., 12th ed., vol. 1, p. 84, 1766 (Germany). 



General distribution of species. Europe, western U.S.S.R., 

 Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Balearic Islands, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, 

 Syria, Israel, Sinai, and North Africa, including Egypt, Libya, 

 Algeria, Morocco, and Spanish Sahara (Rio de Oro). 



Distribution in Libya. Northern Cyrenaica, northwestern Tripol- 

 itania, and the Fezzan. 



Distribution of the subspecies in Libya. 



Eliomys quercinus cyrenaicus. Cyrenaica: Cyrenaican Plateau 

 and adjacent coastal plain. 



Eliomys quercinus denticulatus. Fezzan: Large oases and adjoining 

 areas. 



Eliomys quercinus tunetae. Tripolitania: Tripolitanian Gebel. 



Published records in Libya. Cyrenaica: Gheminez (Festa, 

 1921); Benghazi (Hartert, 1923); Tripolitania: Gharian (Klaptocz, 

 1909 [Eliomys munbyanus tunetae Thomas]); "Gebel Tripolitano" 

 (Toschi, 1951 [Eliomys munbyanus munbyanus Pomel]). 



Remarks. Owing to the relatively few specimens available to 

 workers in the past, a variety of names has been applied to the 

 dormice of western Libya and Algeria, and the systematic position 

 of this group has never been firmly established. Thomas (1903) 

 described Eliomys lerotinus tunetae from Karouana, Tunisia, and 

 stated that it might prove to grade into the earlier described Eliomys 

 munbyanus (Pomel) of Morocco and western Algeria. A few years 

 later, Klaptocz (1909) confirmed Thomas' suspicion and regarded 

 E. I. tunetae as a subspecies of E. munbianus {=E. munbyanus), 

 based on specimens from Gharian, Tripolitania. These specimens 



