536 



RODENTIA 



Dipodtdse,* is readily distinguished by the more primitive murine 

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

 main groups, the Zapodime with two genera in North America 

 and one in China, and the Sichtinefi with a single genus peculiai- 

 to the Old World. 



Sub-Family SICISTINiE. 



1857. Murina Blasius, Saugethiere Deutsclilauds, p. 299 (part). 



1887. Sminthi (section of Dipodini) Winge, Jordfundne og nulevende Gna- 



vere (Eodentia) fra Lagoa Santa, Minas Geraes, Brasilien, p. 122. 

 1901. Smintldmv Lyon, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxxiii, p. 666, 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 not elongated, 

 cheek-teeth tuberculate. 



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

 group less sjDecialized 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 {Mjis 



subtilis Pallas). 

 1839. Smintlius Nathusius in Nordmann, Demidoff's Voyage dans la 



Russie JMeridionale, iii, p. 49 [S. lorigcr Nordmann). 

 1857. Smintlius Blasius, Saugethiere Deutschlauds, p. 301. 

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



1901. 



I'ype species. — Mus suhtilis Pallas. 



Geographical distrihution. — 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 Islands see Major, Zool. Garten, XLVi, pp. 129-134, 

 Moay 1905. 



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

 *' fii' ^"* o-o' "* -Ti = ^^ J crowns of cheek-teeth with complicated 

 enamel pattern which does not form transverse ridges ; lai'ger 

 teeth with four well developed tubercles. 



Remarhs. — 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 tubercles 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. 



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



