216 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 75 



such as Gialo, Tazerbo, and Cufra. Also they apparently do not occur 

 in the desert regions of Egypt farther east. The desolate areas of the 

 Serir of Calanscio and the immense dunes of the Sand Sea of Calanscio 

 in Libya and comparable areas of desolation in the Western Desert 

 of Egypt apparently have proven to be insurmountable barriers to 

 the dispersal of dormice, both at present and in the past. 



The exact type locality of E. cyrenaicus is in doubt. Festa (1921) 

 did not state whether the type series was taken from the local gardens 

 of Gheminez or from the nearby Gebel. A dried up dormouse was 

 found in the gardens of Benghazi by Hartert (1923), and since these 

 gardens are also common at Gheminez, it seems most likely that the 

 specimens came from within, or very near, the village. Setzer (1957) 

 considered it most likely that the type series was collected from the 

 massif some 40 kilometers east of Gheminez, particularly since dor- 

 mice are unknown to the local residents of Gheminez. 



According to Setzer (1957), the specimen from near Derna was 

 live-trapped from the upper slopes of a large wadi near the brink of 

 the coastal escarpment. The vegetative cover at this site consisted of 

 bushlike chaparral, and the dormouse was taken from a trap set near 

 the base of a large evergreen bush. 



In the present work, traps were frequently set throughout these 

 chaparral habitats on the Cyrenaican Plateau, but we were unsuccess- 

 ful in obtaining additional dormice and observed no indications of their 

 presence. 



Eliomys quercinus denticulatus, new subspecies 



Holotype. Adult female, skin and skull, USNM 322757, from El 

 Gatrun, Fezzan Province, Libya, obtained Jan. 11, 1962, by G. L. 

 Ranck, original no. 1289. 



Specimens examined. Six, from Fezzan: Temenhint, 3 (immature); 

 Goddua, 1 (skin, skull and skeleton) ; 28 km E Murzuch 1 (immature) ; 

 El Gatrun, 1 (skin, skull and skeleton). 



Measurements. Measurements of an adult male from Goddua, 

 322758, and of the type specimen (in brackets) from El Gatrun, are 

 respectively: Total length 200, [213]; length of tail 96, [115]; length 

 of hind foot 27, [25] ; length of ear 24, [24] ; greatest length of skull 30.7, 

 [31.2]; condyloincisive length of skull 27.7, [28.3]; length of audital 

 portion of auditory bulla 10.1, [10.5]; crown length of upper molari- 

 form toothrow 4.7, [4.5]; least interorbital breadth 4.3, [4.4]; greatest 

 breadth across zygomatic arches 18.1, [17.6]; length of nasals 10.6, 

 [11.2]; breadth of braincase 14.8, [14.7]. 



Diagnosis. Upperparts Avellaneous, heavily washed with gray, 

 becoming paler on sides and approaching Light Grayish Olive; dorsal 

 part of rostrum and interauricular area more brightly colored than 

 dorsum near Light Pinkish Cinnamon and Cinnamon-Buff; cheeks, 



