93 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF SMINTHUS FROM 

 KASBMIR. 



By Oldfield Thomas. 



From the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser, 6, 

 Vol. XI, February, 1893. 



The remarkable genus Sminthus, which, nota bene, is a member of the 

 Depodidai* not of the Muridce, has been until recently considered to consist of 

 only a single species, S. subtilis, Pal. (S. vagus, auct. plurim.), ranging from 

 Denmark to Central Asia. Quite recently Dr. Buchnerf has described a 

 second species, S. concolor, from G-anssu, China, a species which has not the 

 characteristic black dorsal stripe of S. subtilis ; 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. Leathern, 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 Mus sylvaticus, 

 from a British specimen of which it is at first sight hardly distinguishable, 

 except that the ears are decidedly smaller. 



Fur long and soft. General colour rufous-grey, becoming clearer rufous on 

 sides ; no trace of a darker dorsal stripe. Belly white from chin to anus, but 

 the hairs slate-coloured for their basal three-fourths. Ears short, rounded, 

 their visible parts when folded (i.e., the posterior two-thirds of their inner and 

 the anterior third of their outer surfaces) thickly clothed with short chocolate- 

 brown hairs. Arms and legs whitish ; hands and feet silvery white on their 

 upper surfaces ; palms and soles naked ; hallux reaching to the base of the 

 second toe, fifth toe to the middle of the second joint of the fourth. Tail 

 elongated, conspicuously bicolor, brown above, both hairs and scales, white 

 below. 



Skull decidedly larger than that of S. subtilis, narrower and more elongated 

 anteriorly, and with a longer arid more oval brain-case ; interparietal bone 

 decidedly broader than that of S. subtilis, its antero-posterior only about a 

 third of its transverse diameter. Anterior palatine foramina shorter, extending 

 backwards only to the level of the middle of the premolar ; palate posteriorly 

 ending close behind the posterior molars, while in the allied species it is 

 continued backwards for a distance equal to the combined lengths of M 

 and m. 1. 



* This view of the true affinities of Sminthus, first published by Winge in 1887 

 ( s Gnavere fr< Lagoa Santa'— E' Museo Lundii, p. 109), had been held by me long 

 previously, and I Btill think it is unquestionably correct. 



t Bull. Ac. Sci. St. Petersb., vol. xiii, p. 267 (1892). 



