1905.] MAMMALS OF CRETE. 321 



no specimens were obtained in the country, altliough 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 MUSCULUS 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. MiCROMYS SYLVATICUS HAYi (Waterh.). 



Of all the subspecies of M. sylvaticus recognised by Major 

 Barrett-Hamilton in his paper published in 1900*, the specimens 

 from Crete seem to agree most closely with M. s. hayi^ though they 

 are, if anything, slightly smaller. In colouring they cannot be 

 distinguished fi'om 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 

 tln-oat. The following are the maximum and minimum measure- 

 ments of the six specimens preserved ; — 



Head and body 80-88 mm., tail 86-89-5, hind foot 21-22, ear 

 16-17 ; total length of skull 25-26. 



This Mouse, which appeal's 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 I'ocky 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. 



13. ACOMYS DIMIDIATUS MIXOtJS 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, is evidently closely allied to A. dimidiaPus. 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 4" 5 mm.), which gives 

 the spinous region a more richly coloured appeaiance 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 Mils si/lvaticus and its Allies,' ' P. Z. S. 19C0, p. 387. 



f " Miiioiis " was emploj'ed bj- the early poets as equivalent to Cretan. 



