1903.] ox THE MAMMALS OF CYPRUS. 341 



1. The Mammals o£ Cyprus. By Dorothy M. A. Bate *. 



[Received October 26, 1903.] 

 (Text-figure 43.) 



I. Tiitrocluction. 



A list is given below of all the species of mammals — other than 

 domesticated — known up to the present date to occur in Cyprus. 



Hitherto very little has been published with reference to the 

 Mammalia of this island. Drs. linger and Kotschy in 'Die 

 Insel Oypern't recorded eight species; in 1879 Dr. Gunther+: 

 mentioned four species in a note on a collection of mammals and 

 reptiles from Cyprus ; and recently the Hare and Spiny Mouse 

 have been described as peculiar to this locality. In the collection 

 of the British Museum (Natural History) there are also some 

 specimens procured by various collectors and presented by the 

 late Lord Lilford. 



This present list is chiefly compiled from material obtained 

 during a visit of eighteen months to the island in 1901 and 

 1902. Two bats, Rhinolophus blasii and Myotis mi/otis, previously 

 recorded from Cyprus, were not included in my collection. 



Compared with the number found in other Meditei-ranean 

 islands, and considering the extent of Cyprus, which contains 

 3584 square miles, Mammals are but poorly represented, inasmuch 

 as the total number of species does not exceed fifteen. It might 

 be thought that the dry and barren condition of the greater part 

 of the country is the cause of such lack of variety, but this 

 appears unlikely when it is remembered that the character of 

 the island has completely altered within historic times. This 

 change has been due chiefly to deforesting, which for long con- 

 tinued unchecked, with the natural consequence that a large 

 proportion of the rainfall, which is small, is now wasted. Parts 

 of the central mountain-range still support a somewhat scanty 

 growth of pines, ilex, and arbutus, but these have little chance 

 of spreading, for most of the seedlings ai-e either burnt up by 

 the great summer heat or destroyed by the numerous flocks of 

 goats. In former days even the Mesorcea, which stretches from 

 the west coast to the east, was densely clothed with trees, whilst 

 now it is a bare, dusty plain save for a few months in the year 

 during the growth of the cereal crops. 



I am much indebted to Mr. Oldfield Thomas for his kind 

 assistance and for so courteously giving me access to the specimens 

 in the Collection of the British Museum (Nat. Hist,). 



II. List of Species. 



1. RoussETTUs ^GYPTiACUs E. Geofir. 



A Fruit- Bat has long been known to occur in Cyprus, though 



* Cominuiiicated by Oldfield Thomas, F.Z.S. 



t Wien, 1865. " J Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 741. 



