456 Mr. 0. Thomas on small Hamsters, 



Dimensions of type (measured in tlie flesh) : — 



Head and body 98 mm. ; tail 31 ; liind foot 15'5 ; ear 15. 



Skull: greatest lengtli 27; condylo-incisive length 21; 

 palatilar length 11*3; palatal foramina 5*5; breadth of 

 bulla at riglit angles to its greatest diameter 3'3; upper 

 tooth-row 3*9. 



Hub. Ladak. Type from Shushal, 13,500' ; other speci- 

 mens from Durgu Vil and Khardong (^Crump), and Teza, 

 Upper Sutlej Valley [Whitehead). 



Type. Adult male. B.M. no. 6. 10. 3. 13. Original 

 number 115. Collected 29th June, 1906, by C. M. Crump, 

 and presented to the National Museum by Col. Ward. 

 Four specimens in all. 



This Hamster has a quite extraordinary resemblance to 

 the pale-coloured Voles of the genus Alticola (e. g., 

 A. stracheyi, cricetulus, or phasma), with which it agrees in 

 proportions, length and colour of fur, and external appear- 

 ance generally ; it even has, unlike C. migratoi'ius, their slaty- 

 based throat-hairs. In fact, the only points that show it is 

 not a Vole are the shorter and more " pudsy " feet and the 

 finely-haired untufted ears — neither of which affect the 

 general appearance. 



C. m. fulvus is also very like Alticola phasma above, but 

 the resemblance is spoilt below by the nearly wholly white 

 under surface. 



This Ladak Hamster is probably most nearly allied to the 

 Tibetan C. lama, B.-Ham., but is considerably smaller and 

 has a shorter tail. 



With regard to the systematic arrangement of the small 

 Hamsters, I agree with Mr. Miller as to the advisability of 

 generically separating my Cricetulus bedfordim from the 

 others (genus Phodopus, Miller), and would, indeed, go 

 further by also distinguishing the species sungorus and 

 campbelli, which have an intermediate condition, both of 

 foot-structure and dentition. The new genus might be 

 called : — ■ 



Cricetiscus, g. n. 



Soles densely hairy, the three posterior of the six normal 

 pads completely suppressed, and the three distal ones very 

 small, hidden in the hair. Teeth neither so complicated as 

 those of Cricetulus, in which there is a broad notch, and 

 commonly a deep pit, between the outer and inner main 

 cusps of each lamina, nor so simplified as those of Phodopus, 

 in which the notch is reduced and the pit is absent. 



Genotype; C. campbelli . (^Cricetulus campbelli, l^hos.) 



