602 



EODENTIA 



Three of these occur west of Russia. Their status is at present 

 by no means clearly understood. 



KEY TO THE EUROPEAN EACES OP CBICETUS CRICETUS. 



Skull large, the condylobasal length about 50 mm. 



(Central Germany eastward into Hungary) C. c. cricetus, ■p. 602. 



Skull moderate, the condylobasal length about 45 uim. 



Occipital portion of brain-case high, its truncation 



moderately oblique as in typical race (Belgium 



and western Germany) C. c. caneacens, p. 603. 



Occipital portion of brain-case low, its truncation 



unusually oblique (Roumania) C. c. nehringl, p. 605. 



Cricetus cricetus cricetus Linmvus. 



1758. [Mils'] cricetus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., i, 10th ed., p. 60, Germany. 

 1792. lf[Ms] Cricetus germanicus Kerr, Anim. King., p. 243 (Cricetus 



gervianicus in Syst. Catal., inserted between pp. 32 and 38) 



Germany. 

 1799. Hamster nigricans Lac^pede, Tabl. des division, ordres et genres des 



Mamm., p. 10 (Renaming of Mus cricetus). 

 1801. Mlus] clricetus] fidvus Bechstein, Gemeinn. Naturgesch. Deutsch- 



lauds, I, 2nd ed., p. 1010 (Thiiringen, Germany). 

 1803. Cricetus vulgaris Geoffrey, Catal. Mammif. du Mus. Nat. d'Hist. 



Nat., p. 196, northern and eastern Europe (Renaming of 



Mus cricetus). 

 1811. Cricetus frumentarius Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso. -Asiat., p. 161 (Renaming 



of Mus cricetus). 

 1857. Cricetus frumentarius Blasius, Siiugethiere Deutschlands, 'p. 306. 

 1867. [Cricetus vulgaris] varius Fitzinger, Sitzungsber. kais. Akad. 



Wissensch. Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Classe, lvi, pt. i, p. 98 



(Europe). 

 1867. [Cricetus vulgarus] albus Fitzinger, Sitzungsber. kais. Akad. 



Wissensch. Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Classe, lvi, pt. i, p. 98 



(Germany). 

 1867. [Cricetus vulgaris] niger Fitzinger, Sitzungsber. kais. Akad. 



Wissensch. Wien, Math.-Naturwiss. Classe, lvi, pt. I, p. 98 



(Austria, Hungary, Germany). 

 1873. Heliomys jcudii Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., xii,p. 417, 



November, 1873 (locality imknown). 

 1894. Cricetus cricetus Dahl, Die Heimat, iv, p. 130, June, 1894. 

 1906. Cr[icctus] vulgaris niger Simroth, Biol. Centralblatt, xxvr, p. 337, 



June 1, 1906. Valley of the Saale, Germany. 

 1910. Cricetus cricetus and C. cricetus niger Trouessart, Fauue Mamm. 



d'Europe, p. 159. 



Tjipe locality. — Germany. 



Geographical distrihution. — Locally distributed through central 

 Germany. Exact limits of distribution not known, and apparently 

 undergoing rapid change.* 



Diagnosis. — Skull large and heavy, the condylobasal length 



* For detailed account of local distribution in Germany see Nehring, 

 Wiegmann's Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte, 1904, pp. 15-32, pi. iii, and 

 Sitz.-Ber. Gesellsch. Naturforsch. Freunde, Berlin, 1899, pp. 3-4. 



