 He is commemorated in the black-winged snowfinch "Montifringilla adamsi" and in the genus of the Pleistocene giant dormouse of Malta and Sicily "Leithia melitensis" and "Leithia cartei".In 1868 Leith Adams described the very large form of giant dormouse from the Maqhlaq cave as "Myoxus melitensis" and the smaller form as "Myoxus cartei".Later, Richard Lydekker assigned the two species to a new genus, named "Leithia" in honour of Leith Adams in 1895.