J536 ■ RODENTIA 



Dipodidse* is readily distinguished l)y the more primitive murine 

 character of the skull and hind foot. It is divisible into two 

 main groups, the Zapodinse with two genera in North America 

 and one in China, and the Sicistinse with a single genus peculiar 

 to the Old World. 



Sub-Family SICISTIN.^. 



1857. Murina Blasius, Siiugethiere Deutscblands, -g. 299 (part). 



1887. Smintlii (section of DiiMdini) Winge, Jordfundne og nulevende Gna- 



vere {Rodent ia) fra Lagoa Santa, ilinas Geraes, Brasilien, p. 122. 

 1901. Sminthiiw Lyon, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxxiii, p. G66, May 2, 1901. 



Geographical distribution. — Boreal portion of eastern hemi- 

 sphere, exact limits of range not known ; in Europe west to 

 Norway. 



Characters. — Form strictly murine, the hind legs n(jt elongated, 

 cheek-teeth tuberculate. 



Semarhs. — The sub-family Sicistinse, a strictly Old World 

 group less .sj)ecialized than the Zapodinse, contains the single 

 genus Sicista, two members of which occur in Europe. 



Genus SICISTA Gray. 



1827. Sicista Gray, Griffith's Cuvier, Animal Kingdom, v, p. 227 {Mus 



subtilis Pallas). 

 1839. Sminthus Natbusiiis in Nordmaun, Demidoff's Voyage dans la 



Russie Meridionals, iii, p. 49 (S. longer Nordmann). 

 1857. Sminthus Blasius, Siiugethiere Deutscblands, p. 301. 

 1901. Sicista Allen, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, xiv, p. 185, December 12, 



1901. 



Type species. — Mus subtilis Pallas. 



Geographical distribntion. — From central Asia to Denmark 

 and southern Norway. Details of distribution imperfectly 

 known. For the possible occurrence of a member of the genus 

 in the Orkney Ishmds see Major, Zool. Garten, xlvi, pp. 129-134, 

 May 1905. 



Characters. — As in the sub-family Sicistinpe. Dental formula : 

 i y , pm J ||, wt ;| :| =18; crowns of cheek-teeth with complicated 

 enamel pattern which does not form transverse ridges ; larger 

 teeth with four well developed, tubercles. 



Beiitarls. — The genus Sicista is at once recognizable among 

 European rodents by its murine external characters combined 

 with the large infraorbital foramen, low-lying zygoma and 5—5 

 upper cheek-teeth the tuljercles of which are arranged in two 

 longitudinal series. 



The species are very imperfectly known. About eight are 

 currently recognized ; two of these occur in Europe. 



* Waterbouse, Ann. and ]Ma^. Nat. Hist., x., p. 203, November, 1842. 



