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Show 1 9 0 5 .] MAMMALS OF CRETE. 321 no specimens were obtained in tlie country, although 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 lias 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. M icromys sylvaticus h a y i (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 from 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 throat. The following are the maximum and minimum measurements 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 appears 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 rocky 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. A comys dimidiatus Mixousf, 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. dimidiatus. It may be distinguished 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 appearance 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 Mus sylvaticus and its Allies," P. Z. S. 19C0, p. 387. f " Minoiis " was employed by the early poets as equivalent to Cretan. |