1905.] MAMMALS OF CRETE. 319 



which is partly caused by the slighter contiust between the upper 

 and under fur and by the lack of any gloss on the brown hairs, 

 pai"ticular]y on the paws and tail. The tail is vei-y 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 Yernoe, 

 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 eithei' side 

 of the throat close to the fore legs. The following measurements 

 of the type (No. 34) were taken in the flesh : — 



Head and body 403 mm., tail 255, hind foot 79, ear 39. The 

 basal length of the skull is 75 mm., and the zygomatic breadth 

 58 mm. 



It is perhaps woi'th noting that M.f. bunites also has much 

 closer and shorter fur and a less bushy tail than the type of 

 31. f. mediterranea Barr.-Ham.*, fi'om 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 soine numbers 

 by the peasants, who bring the skins to the larger port-towns on 

 the north coast, whence they are exjDorted, chiefly to Trieste. 



The Cretans call this Marten " Zouridha " {^ovpida), by which 

 name it is also known in the neighbouring island of Karpathosf. 



9. PUTORIUS NIVALIS GALINTHIAS, Subsp. n. 



Only two specimens, without skulls oi- 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 

 I'aces 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 Moerje and Ilithyia? at 

 the time of the birth of Herakles J. 



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 geneiul appearance the type (the only specimen in 

 the British Museum collection) of P. n. atlas Barr.-Ham. §, from 

 the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Also there seems to be no ap- 

 preciable difference in size between these two subspecies, which 

 ai'e amongst the largest of those belonging to the group of 

 Weasels in which the coloui's of the upper and under surfaces 

 are sharply divided. 



* Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. sev. 7, vol. i. June 1898, p. 442. 



t " Karpathos." Etude geologique &c. Prof. C. de Stefan i, Dr. C. I. Forsyth 

 Major, and W. Barbey. Lausanne, 1895, p. 70. 

 X Ibid. p. 65. 

 § Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 7, vol. xiii. April 190J-, p. 323. 



