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Show 1 9 0 5 .J MAMMALS OF CRETE. 3 1 9 which is partly caused by the slighter contrast between the upper and under fur and by the lack of any gloss 011 the brown hairs, particularly on the paws and tail. The tail is very 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 either 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 111111. It is perhaps worth noting that M .f . bunites also has much closer and shorter fur and a less bushy tail than the type of M .f . mediterranea Barr.-Ham.*, from Andalucia, from which it further differs in colour. The Beecli-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 some numbers by the peasants, who bring the skins to the larger port-towns on the north coast, whence they are exported, chiefly to Trieste. The Cretans call this Marten £i Zouridha " (faupiSa), by which name it is also known in the neighbouring island of Karpathosf. 9. PUTORIUS NIVALIS GALINTHIAS, subsp. 11. Only two specimens, without skulls or 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 races 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 Moerte and Ilithyiae at the time of the birth of Hera kies 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 general 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 appreciable difference in size between these two subspecies, which are amongst the largest of those belonging to the group of Weasels in which the colours of the upper and under surfaces are sharply divided. * Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, ser. 7, vol. i. June 1898, p. 442. f " Karpathos." Etude geologique &c. Prof. C. de Stefaui, 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 1901, p. 323. |
