1905. } MAMMALS OF CRETE. 321 
no specimens were obtained in the country, although traps were 
frequently set for them in several localities. It is probably owing 
to the occurrence in considerable numbers of a weasel that this 
rat has not spread and increased in the interior of the island as it 
has already done in Cyprus. 
11. Mus muscuxus Linn. 
This species like the last does not, so far as I am aware, occur 
beyond the limits of the larger towns. In connection with the 
restricted range of this Mouse, it is interesting to note that a form 
of Micromys sylvaticus is abundant in the island. 
12. Mircromys syLyaricus HAyI (Waterh.). 
Of all the subspecies of J/. sylvaticus recognised by Major 
Barrett-Hamilton in his paper published in 1900*, the specimens 
from Crete seem to agree most closely with J/. s. hayi, though they 
are, if anything, slightly smaller. In colouring they cannot be 
distinguished from the darker examples of a series from Cintra, 
Portugal, in the British Museum collection. None of the Cretan 
skins shows any sign of a band of colour across the white of the 
throat. The following are the maximum and minimum measure- 
ments of the six specimens preserved ;— 
Head and body 80-88 mim., tail 86—89°5, hind foot 21-22, ear 
16-17 ; total length of skull 25-26. 
This Mouse, which appears not to have been previously recorded 
from Crete, is plentiful in the island and easily trapped. ‘Two 
specimens, one of which (No. 11) is very dark, were caught not 
far from Khania in rocky ground close to some patches of culti- 
vated land; the remaining four are from Katharo, a small valley 
in the Lassethe Mountains nearly 4000 feet above sea-level. 
15. ACOMYS DIMIDIATUS MINOUS T, subsp. n. 
The Cretan Spiny Mouse, a richly coloured form with fairly 
large ears and tail equalling or exceeding in length the head and 
body, i is evidently closely allied to 4. iniidiat ae It may be dis- 
tinguished from examples of this species in the British Museum 
collection from the vicinity of Aden, and one (somewhat faded) 
from Sinai, the typical locality, by the very restricted area 
occupied by the spines, which are exceptionally fine and have an 
average length of about 10°5 mm. Further, these are pigmented 
for a greater distance from the tip (about 45 mm.), which gives 
the spmous region a more richly coloured appearance owing to 
the proximal and semi-transparent portions of the spines “not 
showing on the surface. The colours of the upper and under 
surfaces do not intergrade, the line of separation along the flanks 
being very sharply defined. 
* “On Mus sylvaticus and its Allies,’ P.Z.S. 1900, p. 387. 
+ “Minotis”’ was employed by the early poets as equivalent to Cretan. 
