1905. | MAMMALS OF CRETE. 319 
which is paitly caused by the slighter contrast between the upper 
and under fur and by the lack of any gloss on the brown hairs, 
particularly on the paws and tail. The tail is very much less 
bushy and the fur shorter, in one specimen having an average 
length on the back of 25-26 mm., while in a skin from Vernoé, 
Turkestan (B.M. 83.4.21.2.), it is about 43 mm. The size and 
shape of the throat-patch seem to be even more variable in the 
Cretan race than it is in others; in one example of the former 
(No. 31) it is represented by only a few white hairs on either side 
of the throat close to the fore legs. The following measurements 
of the type (No. 34) were taken in the flesh :— 
Head and kody 403 mm., tail 255, hind foot 79, ear 39. The 
basal length of the skull is 75 mim., and the zygomatic breadth 
58 mm. 
It is perhaps worth noting that MW. /. bunites also has much 
closer and shorter fur and a less bushy tail than the type of 
M. f. mediterranea Bary.-Ham.*, from Andalucia, from which it 
further differs in colour. 
The Beech-Marten is common in the island, both in the low 
ground and in the hills, where it is known to occur at Katharo, 
between 3000 and 4000 feet, though probably its range extends 
to a much greater height than this. It is killed in some numbers 
by the peasants, who bring the skins to the larger port-towns on 
the north coast, whence they are exported, chiefly to Trieste. 
The Cretans call this Marten “ Zouridha” (Zoupiéa), by which 
name it is also known in the neighbouring island of Karpathos’. 
9. PUTORIUS NIVALIS GALINTHIAS, subsp. n. 
Only two specimens, without skulls or measurements taken in 
the flesh, were obtained of this Weasel, which is of large size. 
These I have been unable to identify with any one of the several 
races of Putorius nivalis represented in the collection of the 
British Museum. Therefore it seems necessary to regard it as 
a local form, which I propose to name after the mythological 
character changed into a weasel by the Moere and Ilithyie at 
the time of the buth of Herakles t 
It was somewhat unexpected to find that, among all the material 
which I have been able to examine, this island race most closely 
resembles in general appearance the type (the only specimen in 
the British Museum collection) of P. 7. atlas Barr.-Ham.§, from 
the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Also there seems to be no ap- 
preciable difference in size between these two subspecies, which 
are amongst the largest of those belonging to the group of 
Weasels in which the colours of the upper and under surfaces 
are sharply divided. 
* Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 7, vol. i. June 1898, p. 442. 
+ “ Karpathos.” Etude géologique &c. Prof. C. de Stefani, Dr. C. I. Forsyth 
Major, and W. Barbey. Lausanne, 1895, p. 70. 
a Ibid. p. 65. 
§ Ann. Mee Nat. Hist. ser. 7, vol. xiii. April 1904, p. 323. 
