Golden hamster stock of hamsters was exported from Syria to the United States in 1971, but apparently none of today's North American pets is descended from these (at least in the female line), because recent mitochondrial DNA studies have established that all domestic golden hamsters are descended from one female – probably the one captured in 1930 in Syria. Since the species was named, the genus "Cricetus" has been subdivided and this species (together with several others) was separated into the genus "Mesocricetus", leading to the currently accepted scientific name for the golden hamster of "Mesocricetus auratus". Following Professor Aharoni's collection in
All in the golden afternoon... All in the golden afternoon... "All in the golden afternoon" is the prefatory poem in the book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. The book was first published in 1865 by London's Macmillan. The introductory poem recalls the afternoon on which he improvised the story about Alice in Wonderland on a boat trip from Oxford to Godstow, for the benefit of the three Liddell sisters, Lorina ("Prima"), Alice ("Secunda") and Edith ("Tertia"), with Alice being the one which inspired Carroll's main character. Carroll's "All in the golden afternoon" has been included in some film and stage adaptations of "Alice's