CRICETULUS 593 



Genus CRICETULUS Milne-Edwards. 



1867. Cricetulus Milne-Edwards, Ann. des Sci. Nat., Paris, 5th ser., Zool., 

 vii, p. 375. 



Type species. — Cricetulus griseus Milne-Edwards. 



Geographical distribution. — Central region of Asia from 

 eastern China west through Asia Minor to the eastern portion 

 of the Balkan Peninsula. 



Characters. — Like Cricetus, but less highly modified : form 

 murine ; feet with normally developed tubercles ; tail in 

 European species well developed, slightly longer than hind foot ; 

 skull murine in appearance, with large (normal) interparietal 

 and smooth brain-case and interorbital region, its general aspect 

 much as in Apodemus ; ectopterygoid fossa long and shallow ; 

 anteorbital foramen with evident external plate, some part of 

 which is visible when skull is viewed from above ; teeth as in 

 Cricetus. 



BemarJcs. — The genus Cricetulus contains about a dozen 

 described species, whose distribution extends across the entire 

 central portion of Asia. One occurs in the Balkan Peninsula, 

 but the group is not otherwise represented in Europe west of 

 Russia. 



cricetulus atticus Nehring. 



1882. Cricetus arenarius Winge, Vidensk. Middel. fra den naturh. Foren. 



i Kjobenhavn, 4th ser., in (1881), p. 31. 

 1902. Cricetulus atticus Nehring, Sitz.-Ber. Gesellsch. Naturforseh. 



Freunde, Berlin, p. 3, January, 1902. 

 1910. Cricetulus atticus Trouessart, Faune Mamm, d'Europe, p. 165. 



Type locality. — Pentelikon, Attica, Greece. 



Geographical distribution. — Greece ; limits of range not 

 known, but apparently confined to the eastern portion of the 

 peninsula. 



Diagnosis. — Similar to Cricetulus phxus of Asia Minor but 

 smaller, the condylobasal length of skull about 25 mm. instead 

 of about 27 mm., hind foot about 13 '6 mm. instead of 15 mm. 

 Skull with brain-case somewhat narrower than in C. phseus. In 

 the only adult examined the underparts are pale buff instead of 

 white. Recognizable among European murines by the short tail, 

 pale greyish colour and large ears. (In the pallid members of 

 the Pitymys ibericus group, which are of similar size and general 

 appearance, the ears are nearly concealed in the fur.) 



Colour. — Upper parts a light grey approaching the grey 

 No. 10 of Ridgway but with a slight smoky cast, faintly tinged 

 with ecru-drab on head and suffused with light buff on rump 

 and buttocks, the hairs everywhere with dark tips, these incon- 

 spicuous except on crown and along middle of posterior half of 

 back, where they produce a slight though evident clouding of 



2 Q 



