38 
W. T. Blanford — Zoology of Sikkim. [No. 1, 
is a distinct and undescribed species. Adults are very muck larger than 
Hodgson’s original specimens, being nine inches and upward in length, 
rivalling or exceeding L. rufescens in size, and the prevailing colour is isa- 
belline. This species which has been excellently described by Dr. Stoliczka, 
1. cit., is easily distinguished from L. rufescens , by its longer and softer fur. 
It may be objected that Hodgson having already described Lagomys 
Hoy lei under the name of L. Nipalensis, must have had a distinct species 
before him when he described L. Citrzon ice. But L. Nipalensis is of a very 
different colour from the typical L. Roylei, being, as described by Hodgson, 
deep bay from the snout to mid body. It was so distinct in appearance 
that Blyth described the young of L. Hoylei as L. Ilodgsonii, immediately 
after Hodgson had described and figured L. Nipalensis, and the latter species 
is kept distinct from L. Hoylei by Waterhouse (Bod. pp. 21, 26,) and by 
Dr. Gray* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. Sept. 1807, p. 220. I am myself 
inclined to believe that Mr. Blyth was quite right in uniting L. Nipalensis 
with L. Roylei, because the structural differences pointed out by Waterhouse 
appear scarcely of sufficient importance to prove the animals distinct, whilst 
the presence or absence of rufous coloration in mammals is not usually of 
much importance. But at the same time there do appear to be some slight 
differences between the forms inhabiting the Himalayas, and the divergence 
is greatest between the Nipal and the Sikkim races, a far greater difference 
existing than between other forms which Mr. Hodgson, who held extreme 
ideas on the subject, described as distinct species. The materials before me 
are insufficient to justify an accurate judgment in this matter, but they in- 
dicate the possibility of the three races being distinguishable in this 
manner. 
Lagomys Hoylei , verm. Six to eight inches ; fur less soft, brown with a 
greyish tinge. 
Do. var. Nipalensis. Length seven to eight inches, fur chesnut or bay 
above. 
Do. var. Curzonice. Length six to seven inches, fur mouse brown, very 
soft. 
At the same time the differences are so small that a good series of sjjeci- 
mens would probably show a complete passage from one to the other. 
Even if the Lagomys seen by Hooker north of the Sikkim frontier were 
different from the Sikkim species, the name applied to it by him L. badius, 
implies a very different coloration from that of Dr. Stoliczka’s L. Curzonice. 
* Dr. Gray also keeps L. Hodgsonii distinct, though it is considered by Water- 
house identical with L. Nipalensis, and both were united to Roylei by Mr. Blyth 
himself in his Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Asiatic Society’s Museum, p. 133. 
