184 Mr. 0. Thomas on a new Species q/'Sminthus. 



Mr. Waterliouse is unfortunate in liavino- ascribed a pre- 

 conceived opinion to me, as ray early writings show that I 

 formerly held very different views — views wliich T have since 

 given up ; and I first published the idea that the proboscis is 

 developed mainly from the maxillaj in a short paper in the 

 ' Quekett Club Journal ' of 1887. 



Although when my present work was first contemplated I 

 was asked to bring out a second edition of my former book, I 

 soon found that it would be entirely new, and Mr. Waterhouse 

 has committed a slight inaccuracy in speaking of my present 

 book as a second edition of one published in 1870. I should 

 have thought that the mere fact of its containing four times 

 the m.atter already, and a prospect of its containing 700 pages 

 when complete, might have indicated this ; moreover it has 

 a different title. But perhaps it is too much to expect in 

 these days of high pressure that those who quote a work 

 should look at the title. 



XXVI. — Description of a neio Species of ^m\ni\\\xs, from 

 Kashmir. By Oldfield Thomas. 



The remarkable genus Smintkus, which, nota henCj is a 

 member of the Dipodidse *j not of the Murid^, has been until 

 recently considered to consist of only a single species, S. sub- 

 tilis, Pall. (^S*. vagus, auct. plurim.), ranging from Denmark 

 to Central Asia. Quite recently Dr. Biichner f has described 

 a second species, S. coiicolor, from Ganssu, China, a s))ecies 

 which has not the characteristic black dorsal stripe of S. sub- 

 tilis ', and I have now the opportunity of describing a third 

 one of the same most interesting group. 



The type specimen is a skin with skull, obtained in 

 Kashmir, at an altitude of 10,000 feet, by Major G. H. 

 Leathem, of the East Surrey Regiment, in whose honour I 

 propose to name the species 



Sminthus Leathemi, sp. n. 



Extremely similar in size, colour, and general appearance to 

 AIus sylvaticus, from a British specimen of which it is at first 

 sight hardly distinguishable, except that the ears are decidedly 

 smaller. 



* This view of the true affiuities of Sminilms, first published hj Wiiige 

 in 1887 (' Gnavere fraLagoa Santa — E Museo Luudii/ p. 109), had been 

 held bj^ me long previously, and 1 still think it is unquestionably correct. 



t Bull. Ac. Sci. St. I'etersb. xiii. p. 267 (1892). 



