428 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



Fur above finer, softer, and closer than in ftdvescens, not longer 

 (abotit 5 mm.), entirely without spines. General colour above 

 bright " clay colour," not quite so bright as " ochraceous," darker 

 and duller in the middle region of the back ; below greyish white ; 

 (all the hairs dark slate colour at their bases, tipped with ochraceous 

 on the flanks, and with white on the whole under surface) a sharp 

 line of distinction between the colour of the flanks and that of the 

 under surface. Face with dark rings round the ejes, produced 

 forward to m^et in an acute angle at the tip of the nose, the cheeks, 

 outside this triangle, and as far back as the eyes, whitish grey like 

 the throat, the remainder ochraceous. The feet dark to the bases 

 of the toes, the toes themselves white. Tail dark above, white 

 below, clothed sparsely with short, adpressed, black hairs, which 

 become very appreciably longer towards the end of the tail, but not 

 enough to form a tuft. 



Skull markedly smaller than in fulvescens, the supraorbital 

 ridges much less marked, scarcely more than indicated, teeth very 

 much smaller. Zygomatic plates not produced forward, not visible 

 from above. 



Dimensions of the type :— (Those of the body taken in the flesh 

 by the collector). Head and body, 115; tail, 186 ; hindfoot, 26^ 

 ear 20. Skull: — Greatest length, 32; condylo-basal length, 29 ; 

 brain-case breadth,' 13-8 ; interorbital breadth, 5 ; nasals length, 

 11 ; diastema, 8*5 ; palatal foramina, 6 ; tooth row, 5. 



Habitat. — Sikkim. (Type from Lachen. Alt. 8,800 feet.) 



Type.— Old male. B. M. No. 15. 9. 1. 189. Original mmiber, 

 6107. 



Collected by Mr. Crump, on the 30th of December, 1914. Pre- 

 sented to the National Collection by the Bombay Natural History 

 Society. This small rat seems to be widely distributed in Sikkim. 

 Among the 21 specimens obtained, there are individuals from 

 Ghoom and Sukiapokhri in the south, to Thangu (Ait. 10,000 feet) 

 in the extreme north. 



I have named this very distinct species in memory of my old 

 friend the late E. H. Aitken, who conjointly with Mr. H, M. Phipson, 

 founded the Bombay Natural History Society. I have used his 

 nom-de-plume " Eha," under which he is known to such a 

 wide circle by his books on the Field Natural History of the 

 Bombay Presidency. 



^Ijimys leioclia, sp. n. 



A member of the fulvescens group, rather larger than eha, with a 

 comparatively shorter tail, most nearly related to niviventer, from 

 which it difl'ers most notably by its dark throat and median abdo- 

 minal line. 



