374 Miscellaneous, 



based upon secondary sexual characters are regarded as sections ; 

 all local races or supposed varietal forms are reduced to a dead level 

 as synonyms. Although it is certain that in this matter of sj'no- 

 nymy the author of the ' Moths of India ' will have many opponents, 

 and in the case of some species probably no followers, his action 

 must yet be respected as an evidence of that indomitable self- 

 reliance, without which the completion of so arduous a task as a 

 comprehensive revision of the Indian Moths would have been quite 

 impossible. Mr. Hampson has expressed his own honest convic- 

 tions, and those who do not agree with the minor detail of syno- 

 nymy are not bound to follow his lead ; but in any case aU true 

 lepidopterists must most earnestly desire that the ability which the 

 author has shown in bringing order out of chaotic confusion may 

 be recognized by the sanction of a fourth volume, to include the 

 PyralidiE. A. G. Butler. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Tlu Irish Stoat distinct from the British. 

 By Oldfieli) Thomas and G. E. H". Bakrett Hamilton. 



[Preliminary note.] 



There has always been a great deal of confusion as to the identity 

 of the single Irish member of the genus Futorius ; but the fact that 

 it has a long black-tipped tail has always been hitherto taken as 

 sufficient proof that it is a stoat (P. ermineiis), and not, as the 

 natives call it, a weasel. The third alternative — that it is neither — 

 seems never to have presented itself to anyone's mind : but on a 

 careful comparison of specimens we have now come to the conclusion 

 that this animal is an insular intermediate form, with some of the 

 characters of each of our two British species, and is not referable to 

 either of them. 

 It may be called 



Piitorius hibernicus, sp. n. 



Intermediate in size between the two allied species. Light 

 colour of underside white, not yellowish ; not extending on to the 

 up])er lip, much narrowed on chest and belly, and not extending on 

 limbs beyond the middle of the forearms and lower legs, the whole 

 of the hands and feet being brown with the exception of a few hairs 

 on the ends of the toes. Tail as in the stoat, but rather shorter. 



Dimensions of the type (an adult male), measured in the flesh : — 



Head and body 228 millim. ; tail 88; hind foot 40; ear 21. 

 Basal length of skull 41-2. 



Type from Enniskillen, killed Jan. 7, 1895; presented to the 

 British Museum by J. E, Harting, Esq. 



A fuller account of this interesting animal, and our reasons for 

 distinguishing it, will appear in the ' Zoologist ' for April. 



