^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ' {./ ^>. ** ■ ^ .^I-^ 1.0 ltt|28 ly lU |r25 US 25 22 20 •* •. U 116 6" FhotQgFa(J]ic _SciHioes Caporation as Wtn MAM STMBT l(W M I H ,M.Y. I4SM (7U)t73-4S03 *^ ' '*!> CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/iCMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Instituta for Hittorical Microraproductions / Inttitut Canadian da microraproductions hiatoriquaa Ttehnical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa tachniquaa at Ubiiographiquaa Th to Tha Inatituta Imm attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may aignificantiy changa tha uaual mathod of filming, ara chaclcad balow. D D D D D Cdourad covara/ Couvartura da coulaur |~n Covara damagad/ Couvartura andommagAa Covara raatorad and/or laminatad/ Couvartura raataurte at/ou pailicul4a □ Covar titia miaaing/ La titra da couvartura manqua □ Colourad mapa/ Cartaa gAograph gAographiquaa an coulaur •d ink (i.a. othar than blua Encra da coulaur (i.a. autra qua blaua ou noira) I I Colourad ink (i.a. othar than blua or black)/ I I Colourad plataa and/or illuatrationa/ D Planchaa at/ou illuatrationa an coulaur Bound with othar matarial/ Rali* avac d'autraa documanta Tight binding may cauaa ahadowa o diatortion along IntMrior margin/ Laialiura aarr'^a paut cauaar da I'ombra ou da la diatortion la long da la marga IntMaura Blank laavaa addad during raatoration may appaar within tha taxt. Whanavar poaalbia, thaaa hava baan omittad from filming/ II aa paut qua cartainaa pagaa blanchaa ajoutiaa lora d'una raatauration apparaiaaant dana la taxta, mala, loraqua cala 4tait poaalbia, caa pagaa n'ont paa 4ti fiimtoa. Additional commanta:/ Commantairaa supplAmantairaa: L'lnatitut a microfilm* la maillaur axamplaira qu1l iui a 4t* poaalbia da aa procurer. *..aa d^talla da cat axamplaira qui aont paut-Atra unlquaa du point da vua bibliographiqua. qui pauvant modifiar una imaga raproduita, ou qui pauvant axigar una modification dana la mithoda normala da fUmaga aont indiqute ci-daaaoua. D D D D D D D D Colourad pagaa/ Pagaa da coulaur Pagaa damagad/ Pagaa andommagiaa Pagaa raatorad and/or laminatad/ Pagaa raataurAaa at/ou pallicul4aa Pagaa diacolourad, atainad or foxad/ Pagaa dAcolortoa, tachatiaa ou piquAaa Pagaa datachad/ Pagaa ditachAaa Showthrough/' Tranaparunca Quality of print variaa/ Qualiti In^gala da I'impraaalon Includaa aupplamantary matarial/ Comprand du material auppWmantaira Only adMon availabia/ Saula Mitton diaponibia Pagaa wholly or partially obacurad by arrata alipa. tiaauaa, ate., hava baan rafilmad to anaura tha baat poaalbia imaga/ Laa pagaa totalamant ou partiallamant obacurdaa par un fauillat d'arrata, una paiura. ate., ont MA filmAaa A nouvaau da fa^on A obtanir la maillaura imaga poaalbia. Th P« of fill Of ba th •k oti fir ak or Th ah Til w1 Ml dM an ba rif Thia item la filmad at tita reduction ratto cheeked below/ Ce document eet filmA au taux da rAductkm indk|uA ci deeeeua. 10X 14X 1IX 22X 20X 30X • 3 12X ItX anc aix Th« copy filmed hw hat b—n raproduecd thanks to tlw flanaroslty of: Bioek Unhrtnity •tCatharinu L'oKomplaK'O film4 fut roproduit grico i la 0*n4roaitA da: Brook UnhrtnHy StCitlMrinM qualitv lagibiHty Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha poaaibia conaidaring tha condition of tho original copy and in kaaping fNmIng eontraet ipoeif laationa. Original copiaa In printad papar eovara ara fNmad beginning with tha ?ront eovar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or llhiatratad impraa- •ion. or tha back covar whan appropriate. AN othor original eoplaa ara fllmad beginning on the firat page with a printad or iUuatrated Impree- •ion. and anding on the laat page with e printed or illuetretod impreaalon. lea imegea tuiventas ont 4t* raproduitaa avac la plus grand soin. eompte tenu de la condition at da le nettet* empleire film*, at on conformM cvec lea conditions du eontrot de filmege. Leo e»emplalree origlneux dent le couverture an papier eet ImprimAe sent filmAs en eommen9ant par le premier plot et en terminent soit per le demMtre pege qui comporte une emprainta d'impraeslon ou d'illustretion. soit par la tacond plat, salon le ces. Tous les sutres exemplairas origlneux sent fllmte en commen^ent per la premiere pege qui comporte une empreinte dimpreesion ou d'illustretion et en terminent per le demlAre pege qui comporte une telle empreinte. The leet recorded freme on each microflehe sheN contain the symbol ^^ (mooning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol ▼ (mooning "END"), whichever eppiiee. Un dee symbolee suivsnts spperettre sur le dornlAre imege de cheque microfiche, salon la ces: le symbole -^ signifle 'A SUIVRE". le symbole ▼ signifle "FIH". platea. cherts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction retloa. Thoaa too lerge to be entirely Included in one expoeure ere filmed beginning in the upper left hend comer, left to right end top to bottom, ee meny fremee es required. The following diegrems illustrete the Les certes, pienches. tebleeux, etc.. peuvent Atre fllmte A dee teux de rAduction diff Grants. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un saul clichA. il est film* A pertir de I'englo supArieur geuche. de gauche i droite. et de heut en boa, en prenent le nombre d'imegee nAcesseire. Les diegremmes suivants illustrent le m4thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 S 6 THE FUR-BEARING ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA. A Monograph of American Mustelid/*:, IN WHICH AN ACCOUNT OF THE WOLVERINE, THE MARTENS OR SABLI-s THK ERMINE. THE MINK. AND VARIOUS OTHER KINDS O^WKa" SELS, SEVERAL SPECIES OF SKUNKS. THE BADGER THE LAND AND SEA OTrERS, AND NUMEROUS ' EXOTIC ALLIES OF THESE ANIMALS IS CONTRIBUTED TO THE HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS. By ELLIOTT COUES, Captain and AMisun, Surgeon U. S. rmy ; Sectary U. S. Geological Survey ; Member of the National A«demy of Science., etc.; Author of "Key ^ North American Bird*," " Field Ornithology," etc. WITH SIXTY ILLUSTRATIONS. 175058 BOSTON : ESTES AND LAURIAT. 1877. VI '^^ ,1 PREFATORY NOTE. U. S. Geological and Geoobaphical Survey of the Tbrbitobies, Washington, D. C, July n, 1877. This treatise on Far-bearing Animals of North Americaf pre- pared by Di. Elliott Cones, Assistant Surgeon United States Army, at present on dnty with the Survey, is published as a specimen fasciculus of a systematic History of North American Mammals, upon which the author has been long engaged. In the forthcoming work, which will be published by the Burvey as soon as it can be prepared for the press, it is proiiosed to treat the Mammals of North America, living and extinct, in the same comprehensive and thorough manner in which the single family of the Muatelidas has been elaborated. The form of the final work, however, will necessarily be modi- fied, in order to bring the whole matter within reasonable com- pass, as well as to adapt it more perfectly to the wants of the general public, which it is designed to meet. The technical and critical portions of the treatise yill be condensed as far as may be deemed compatible with itsdistiuctively soieutifle charac- ter, while the aspects of the subject which are of more general interest, such as the life-histories of the species and the eco- nomic or other practical relations which animals sustain toward man, will be presented in ample detail. Other considerations havpi also had weight with me in de- ciding to publish this Monograph of the Muatelida in advance of the general "History", and as a separate volume. This family of Mammals is oo) of special interest and importance, from an economic point ot view, as all the species furnish valua- ble peltries, some of which, like Sable, Ermine, and Otter, are in great demand ; while their pursuit is an extensive and im- ^rtant branch of our national industries. It is believed that the Monograph satisfactorily reHects the present state of our knowledge of these animals, and forms lU IV NORTH AMERICAN MU8TELIUi>E. a (lesirablo contribution to tbe literature of the general subject. The MuslelidiTf like most otb.r fntnilies of North American Mammals, have not been Hjstemaiically revhed for many years^ (luring which much new material, hitherto unused, has become available for the pnr|K>se8 of science ; while the steady and rapid progress of scientiflc inquiry has rendered it necessary to reopen and discuss mr.iiy questions in a new light. The same principles and methods of study which the author ha.s suc- cessfully ai)plied to the elucidation of the Rodentia of North America have be^n brought to bear upon the investigation of the Muatelidw. The Memoir is based upon specimens secured by the Survey under my direction, together with all the material contained in the National Museum, for the opportunity of examining which the Survey acknowledges, in this aa in other instances, its indebtedness to the Smithsonian Institution. The illustrations of the present volume, with few exceptions,* were engraved by Mr. H. H. Nichols, of Washington, from pho- tographs on wood made under Dr. Coues's direction by Mr. T. W. Smillie, of Washington. This method of natural history illus- tration may still be regarded in the light of an experiment ; but the cuts may be considered fine specimens of the engraver^d art, when it is remembered that photography gives no lines to be followed by the gi-aver. Though showing less detail^ particularly of the under surfaces of the skulls, than might have been secured by hand-drawing, the cuts possess the merit of absolute accuracy of contour. This opportunity is taken to reprint, by permission, a Circular relating to the proposed " History ", which was addressed by Dr. Coues to t!«e Medical Staff of the Army, of which he is a member. The Circular is sufficiently explicit to require no com> ment ; but I may here express my high appreciation of the courtesy with which the wishes of the Survey have been met by the Surgoou General of the Army. F. V. HAYDEN, United States Oeologist. * The Bev«*ral ligares on the electrotype plate VI were kindly loaned by Mr. £. A. Samaela,of BMton, from the MaMacbusetts Agrioultural Report for 18<>L The tignres on plate XII were drawn on wood by Mr. S. W. Kct'ti, of Wiwh- ingtoD, from photographs fnmished by Mr. H. W. Parker^ of the Agricultural College, Aniherat, Maau. [K(>|iiiiit«r. CouBS. By ordek of the Sukoeon General: C. H. CKANE, AsHiHtant Surgeon General, U. S. Army. Okfick of U. S. Oke includes — 1. The Clat«sification of North American Mammals according to the latest and most approved views of leading tberologists, including diagnoses of the orders, families, genera and species. S. Tlie most acceptable Nomenclature of each species and variety, witb ex- tensive Synonymy. 3. The elaborate technical Description of each species and variety, including much anatomical detail, especially respecting the skull and teeth. 4. I'he Geographical Distribution of the species — an important matter, con- cerning which much remains to be learned. .'>. The " Life-histories " of the species, or an account, as full and completn as it can l>e made, of their habitt. This is also a matter reqoiring niuuU further study. C. The Hibliography of the subject. V VI NORTH AMERICAN MU8TELIL>;f:. Whiln tbu Htrictly acientiflc character of tb« work will he uutiutaiiiud, th» " lifn-hiHtorie«," being '^f goneral iiitorust, will bo divostod as far om |iutt»iblo of tecbnicalitittH, and treated with u free band, in popular style. Tbe iiiithor has long be«)n engaged in gatbering material for this work, already far ad- VHnc««l, and bo|M!H to publisb at no distant day. His resources and facilitiea for the pntpuratioii of the descriptive and other technical portions of tho treatise have been ample ; but be hoH still, in ooinmon with other naturalistM, niuoh to Itiurn res|>eoting the (Geographical Distribution and Habits of North American Mamuiuls. To these points, therefore, special attention is invited, with the exfiectatinn that much important and valuable information may lie secured with tbe assistance of Medical and other OfHcers of the Army, mnuy of whom enjoy unusual facilities for acquiring a knowledge of this subject, and whose individual exporiences, in many caseN, represent a fund of information not yet on scieutiHc record, but which, it is hoped, may now be made fully available. Tbe Geographical Distribution of animals can be thoroughly worked oat only by means of observations made at very many ditferent places. To tbia end it is desirable that lists should be prepared of tbe varioi s species found in any given locality, noting their relative abundance or scarcity, times of apitearance and disappearance, nature of their customary resorts, and other fiertinent particulars. A suftlcient number of such reports, from various stations, would greatly increase our knowledge, and render it more precise. It is believed that the " History of the Post," as already prepared by Medi- cal Officers, usually includes information of this kind, which, by the permis- sion of the Surgeon General, is mode available for tbe present purpose. As a rule, the habits of larger "game" animals, such as are ordinarily ol>- Jects of the chose for pleasure or protit, and of all those which sustain obvious economic relations with man, as furnishing food or fun, or oh committing depredations upon crops or live stock, are the best known ; yet there is much to be learned even respecting these. The habits of many of the $niaUer, insignificant or obscure species are almost entirely unknown. Full and ao~ curate information respecting the habits of the numerous specieH of Mares^ Squirrels, Shrews, Moles, Mice, Rats, Bats, Weasels, (jophers, iVc, is par- ticularly desired. The Bats otfer a peculiarly inviting and little explored field of research. Among points to which attention may be directed, in any case, are the following : Dute and duration of the rut.— Period of gestation.— Usual time of repro- duction. — Number of young proiluced. — Duration of lactation. — Care of the- y(mng, by one or both parents. — State of monogamy or polygamy. — Times of disappearance and re-appearance of such animals as are migratory, and of such as hybernate. — Completeness or interruption of torpidity. — Times of changing iielage, of acquiring, shedding and renewing horns.— Habits connect«d with these processes. — Habits peculiar to the breeding and rut- ting seasons. — Construction of nests, barrows, or other artiticial retreats. — Natural resorts at different seasons. — Nature of tbod at various seasons ; mode of procuring it; laying-up of supplies; quantity required. — Various cries, of what imlicative.— Natural means of offense and defense, and how employed. — General disposition, traits, characteristics. — Methods of captur- ing or destroying, of taming or domesticating. — Economic relations with CIRCITLAB. VII man ; liow inJtiriniiH or bunollcial, to what nxtent, iiMd fur what purpoMH, yifldiiiit what priMliiotit of valiin. CHher pointa will doiibtleaa tnggemt theiuaelvea to the nl>mrTer. Anatom- ical notoM of ocrefiil ilimeotionH of itoft parta, particularly of tho tliffoati ye and reproductivH organa, aro valuable. AniHsdotal recorda of iwraoiial ex- perienced iMNHiom at leaat the interuat which attaohea to origioality, and are ▼ery acceptable. PeraiMis are fre<|iiently deterred from oonimiioicating their obaervationa for fuar that whiit they have to utfitr may not be wante«l. Thia ia generally a niiatake. In the tirat place, duplication of data aervea the important purpoho of corrolioiating and U4>iirtnning the accuracy of reports furniahetl, and in all caaea of aeaaonni plienoinuiia, which of C4iura« vary with latitude, the aaiue observationa may Ins proHtably r«iN«ateil at dilTerent atationa. Secondly, |ieraona who write hooka are generally auppoaeil to know more than they really do. 8|M)viuienH of common and well-known animala, ea|M>cially if bulky, are of conrae leaa deairable than those of rare and obacMire aiM>cies ; but apeci- mena of any speciea a«)uured beyond the ortlinary geographical range, or illustrating unusual oonditiona, auch aa albinism, melaniam. or malforma- tions, or representing embryonic atagea of growth, are always in demand. Small dry parcels may be o«inveuiently mailed direct t«> the underaigned ; large packagea should b« sent in accordance with Circular Orders, No. '2, War Department, .Surgeon Gtmeral's Office, April 13, 187.'>, (copy herewith [ * ])| or by express, if the Quartermaster's liepartmeat caunot furnish transpor- n WA.R nrcPARTMENT, Surgeon General's Office, fVnnhington, April I'.i, 1875. CIRCULAR ORDERS, ) . No. 2. ( The following Oonernk Order from the Adjutant Oencral's Office ia pub- lished for the information of Metlical Officers : GBNKIiALORUBIUt| No. 4». WAR DEPARTMENT, AlUl'TANT (iBNRIUI.'h OFFK K. WankingUm, AprU 8, 1875. The (jnartermMt«tr'i. Dt*partnu-nt ia authorized to trannport to the Mei/. /oina— Synonymy- NotcH on its characters — M. zibelUna — Synonymy — Meosuremonts of skulls of the three species— Comparative diagnoses of M. martett americana, and fo^na—MusteUt americana, the American Sable or Marten — Synonymy— Description and discussion of the spe- cies—Table of measurements — Geographical variation in the akull— General history aud habits of the species tx 8» it '\i NORTH AME'ZICAN MUSTELIDiE. CHAPTER IV. MUSTELIN^—Continued: The Weasels. The genus Putoriiu — Qeneric oharactera and remarks — Dirision of tha ^^enos into subgenera — Analysis of the North American species — The subgenus Oale — Putoritu vulgaris, the Common Weasel — Syn- onymy— Habi*«t—8peoitic eharacters — (General characters and re- lationships of the species— Geographical distribution— Habits — Putoriua ermiwea, the Stoat or Ermine — Synonymy — Habitat — Spe- citio characters— Discussion of specific characters and relation- ships — ^Table of measurements— Note on the skull and teeth — Deseription of external characters — Conditions of the change of color — (Jeneral history and habits of the siiecies — Its distribution in the Old World — Putoritu longicauda, the Long-tailed Weasel — Synonymy — Habitat — Specific characters— Description — Measnre- men^ — General account of the species — Putorius brtuilieiuis fre- mattu, the Bridled Weasel — Synonymy— Habitat — Specific charac- ters — General account of the species 97 CHAPTER V. MUSTELINE— Continued : The American Ferret. Theanbgenus Cifnomyotua — Snbgenerio characters — P»toriu» ( CynomyO' IMS) Rtyripef, the American or Black-footed Ferret — Synonymy — Specific charaeteis — Habitat — General account of the species — Ad- DBNDUM : On the species of the subgenus Putoriu* — P. fatidiu, the Polecat or Fitch— Synonymy — Description— P. faetidus var. f'mro, the Ferret — Synonymy — Remarks — Ferret breeding and Laadling — P.feeMiu rar. martmanni, the Siberian Polecat — Synon- ymy — Remarks — P. mrmaticu», the Spotted Polecat — Synonymy Mid remarks 147 CHAPTER VI. MUSTELINE— Continued : The Mink. The subgenus £i(tr*u{a— Snbgeneric characters and remarks — Putoriu* Hmh, the American Mink — Synonymy— Habitat — Specific char- acters — Description of external characters— Measurements — Vari- ation in external characters — Variation iu the skull — Comparison with tho European Mink— Notice ot allied Old World species, P. Intreola and P. »ibiricu» — General history and habits of the Mink — "Minkeries" 158 SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER VII. Subfamily MEPHITIN^: The Skunks. Qeaenl considerations— Cranial and dental characters — The anal ar- matare — Division of the subfamily into genera— Note on fossil North American species— The genus Mephitia — Mephitis mephitiM, the Common Skunk — Synonymy— Habitat — Specific characters — Description of external characters— Description of the skull and teeth — Variation in the skull with special reference to geographi- cal distribution — Anatomy and physiology of the anal glands and properties of the secretion — Geographical distribution and habits of the Skunk— History of the species— Aduknuum : On hydropho- bia from Skunk-bite, the so-called " rabies mepuitica " l07 CHAPTER VIII. MEPHITINiE— Continued : Skunks. The genns Mepkitii, continued — Mephitit macrura, the Long-tailed Mex- ican Skunk — Synonymy— Habitat — Speciiio characters — Deiorip- tion — The subgenus Spilogale— Mepkitia (Spilogale) putoriua, the Little Striped Skunk — Synonymy — Habitat — Specific characters — Description of external characters — Description of the skull and teeth — History of the species — ^Tbe genus Conepatus — Contpatiu mapurito, the White-backed Skunk— Synonymy— Habitat — Speci- fic characters — Description of external characters — Description of the skull and teeth — Description of the anal glands— Geographi- cal distribution and habits 836 CHAPTER IX. Subfamily MELINiE: The Badgers. The genns Taxidea — Generic characters and comparison with Mrlea— Taxidea anuritiana, tha American Badger — Synonymy — Habi- tat — Specific characters — Description of external characters — De- scription of the skull and teeth— Geographical variation iu the akull — History of the American Badger — Its geographical distri- bution — Habits— 7Vix0AI.R) PUTORIUS. Two skins, to show t^o ^ liar markings. (Mueh reduced.) XIII.— Mrphitis (Spiixmjale) putorius. Large old sknll from above, below, and in profile. (Natural aize.) zin XIV NOBTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^E. PLATE XIV.— Mephitis (Spilooai^r; putorius. Small yonng skull from above, below, and ia profile. (Sat- ural aize.) XV. — CONRPATUS MAPURITO. SkoU from above, below, and ia profile, {yatural tUe.) XVI. — Taxjdba ambricana. Skull from above, below, and in profile. (Reduced.) XVII.— Ll'TRA CANAI>BNSI8. Skull from above, below, and In profile. (Hotttral tize.^ XVIII.— LUTRA VULGARIS. Skull from above, below, and in profile. (Natural tite.) XIX.— Enhtdris lutris. Skull from above and below. (Reduced.) XX.— ENHYDRIS I.UTRIS. Skull in profile. (Reduced.) Palate and teeth. (Natural »i»e.) HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDJl CHAPTER I. The Family MUSTELID.E. General considerations— Sj'Btoniatic position ami relations of the Mtmielida — Division into subfamilies— SeluMlule of the North American genera — Their differential characters — Diagnoses of the North American Kiibfamilies — The anal glands of itustelhur — The fossil North American specieB of MMklimr — Derivation and signiticatiou of names applied to JUualiUda. THIS is a large, important, and well-defined family of Car- nivorous Mainuialis, embracing the Weasels and Martens, as its topical representatives, the Skunks, Badgers, Otters, and a few other less familiar animals. Representatives of the family exist in most portions of the globe, excepting the Australiiin region, home of the Marsupials and Monotremes. The group reaches its highest development in the Northern Hemisphere, or ArctogoMi, where both the gen- era and the species are most numerous and diversified. Some twenty genera are recognized by modern authors; of these, the genus Putoriug, including the true Weasels, has the most extensive geogi!«i>faical distribution in both hemispheres, and contains by far the largest number of species. In one sense, it is to be considered as the typical genus of the family. Many of the other genera consist of but a single species, and some of them are the sole representatives of the subfamilies to which thev respectively belong. The economic importance of the family may be estimated from the \ery high commercial value which fashion has set 1 M 1 2 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. npoD the fur of several of the species, such as the Ermiue, Sable, Nutria, and Sea Otter; anKularly arched, and with the laat phalanges bent up, withdrawing the claws into shcatba. (Gray.) [Martens and Weastls.] Mr8TRi.iN.i:. b. M {; first true molar (sectorial) of lower Jaw only develoi>ed. Toea straight, with the last phalanges and einws extended ; the latter non-retractile, (tiray.) [Kxtra-liniital.] .... Mf.i.mvorin.c. 2. Last molar of upper Jaw (M 1) enlarged and more or less extended longitudinally.- M ^. Toes straight, with tho last phalanges and claws extt ded; tho latter non-retractile. (Gray.) [Uadgers.] Meij>'.«:. B. Auditory bulla elongated and extending backwards close to the par- occipital procefs. (FUnvcr.) Palntu moderately eniargiuated. i. Last molar of upper jaw (M ] ) transverse; (with the inner ledge nar- rowed inwards): Htctoriul tooth with two inner cusps. [Extra-lim- ital.] IIki.ktii>is->:. C. Auditory bulla inflated, undivided, with the auterior inferior extremity pointed and commonly united to tho prolonged hamular process of the pterygoid. (Flower.) Palate moderately eniarginatcd. 1. Last luolarof upper Jaw (M \) transverse; (with the inner ledge com- pressed.) [Extra-limital.] Zukillix^. D. Auditory bulla little inflated, transversely constricted behind the meatus auditorius externus and thence inwards; in front flattened forwards; periotio region expanded out wards and backwards. Pal- ate deeply emarginated. I. Last molar of upper jaw (M ^) quadrangular, wide, but with an ex- tended outer incisorial ledge. [Skunks.] .... MEi'HiTiyjE. II. Sknll with the cerebral portion swollen backwards and outwards; and with the rostral portion abbreviated, high and truncated for- wards, and widened and depressed above; anteorbital foramen enlarged and produced downwards and backwards. Feet with well-developed interdigital membrane, and adapted for swimming. [The species highly aquatic, one of them marine.] A. Teeth normal, 36 (M ^, PM ^, C }, I f X 2) : sectorial tooth (PM 4) normal, eflicient, with an expanded inner ledge ; the other molars submnsteline. Posterior feet with normally long digits. [Otters.] Ll.'TRIN^. B. Teeth very aberrant, 32 (M ^, PM f , C |, 1 1 — the lower inner incisors being lost — X 2): sectorial tooth (PM f ) defunctionalized as such, compressed from before backwards; the other molars also with blunted cusps. Posterior feet with elongated digits. [Sea Otter.] Enhydrix^. Of the foregoing eight subfamilies, three, namely, the Melli- vorincBf Helictidina;, and Zorillinw, each of which consists of a single genus, are confined to the Old World. No one of the subfamilies is peculiar to North America ; but the Mephilinaf 6 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTEl.TDvE. or Skunks, nro not found in tlio Old Wurhl, where tkoy are represented by the African ZoriUiiui;; they occur in South p.s well as North America. The Melinw, or Badgers, are common to North and Middle America and the Eastern Hemisphere, but do not occur in South America. The Sea Otter, sole repre> sentative of the Enhydrinw^ inhabits both coasts of the North Pacific. The Lutrinw^ or ordinary Otters, are of general dis* tribution in both hemispheres. The Muatelina', or true Weasels, Martens, &u., are of very general distribution, as already indi* cated; such is especially the case with the typical genus PiUo- riua. The genera Mustela and OhIo chiefly inhabit the higher latitudes; Oaliotis is peculiar to South America. The North American forms of the family down to the genera are exhibited in the following synoptical table : — Subclass Monodetphia. Snper-onler Editoabilia, Order Ferw. Suborder FisBlpedia. Super-family Jrctoidea, Fami]y' Muttelidw. Subfamily SfiuteUnee, Genera Oulo. (The Wolverene.) Muatela. (The Martens.) Putoritu. (The Weasels.) Subfamily MephitinoB, (The Skunks.) Genera MephUia. SpUogale. CoHfpatus. Subfamily J/elincr. (The liadgers.) Genus Taxldea. Subfamily Intrina. (The Otters.) Genus Lutra. Subfamily Enhydrina. (The Sea Otter.) Genus Enhydra. ANALYSIS OF GEKKKA OF MUSTELID^E. SCHEDULE OF DIFFERENTIAL CHABACTERS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA. Variout ckaracleii by which the euhfamiUn and genera art differentiated are eX' chednle: — hibiled in the follmring »ck DonUI formula: I 3-3 3-3- ^•3-3' 1- 3.3. c. rji M. I. .. n, C. 3-3 au3 \-\ l-l- l-J I' l-l i-r 1-1 S3= 1-1 1-1' 1-1 i-r „ 3-3 Pm-jp^ M. = 1"=34. Pm. 5^4. 1-1 »-3-18" 9-9 S-3 Pm. normally g^ aometimM r^, jj or jj=3a or 34 MnateUda. Pm. 4-4 3-3* 3-3 1-1 18 9-4-1^=** _, 1-1 !«__, "• 1I.9-16-™ PM. and M. normal— anjcnlar, trenebanti or aoate a bnonnal— ronnaed, blunt, tnb«rcolona Baok upper M. quadrate, tranaverae, mnob wider tban long abor:t aa wide aa long trlanfcnlar, the bypotbennae poatero-exterior irresularly oval ; all oomera rounded off Baok upper Pm. atriotly sectorial, linear, wltb amall anterior interior cuap triangular, owing to aize of tbe in- nerledge resembl'ng the baok upper M Upper Pm. 4-4, the anterior one comparattvely well developed minute, crowded out of line 3-3, the anterior one oomparatively well developed or 9-9; when 3-3, the anterior very minute Lower L 3-3, the usual camivorona formula 3-3, the inner pair lacking Lower sectorial without -obvioiu inner tubercle of middle lobe with slight but evident-inner tubercle with strongly developed inner tubercle nostrum of skull so short that root of zygoma ia nearly or quite op. posite fold end of nasal bones moderately produced ; root of cygoma more nearly opposite hind end of nasals Brain.case comparatively compressed backward, little broader be- . hind than before, with straigbtiah or little convex lateral outline widened backward, with quite straight lateral ontlinea.. much widened backwards and swollen outward, with very convex lateral outlines Frontal region very short, broad, flat on top lengthened, narrowed, very convex transversely Bony palate ending opposite back upper molars produced twck of the molars, but not Lalf-way to end of pterygoids. produced far baok of the molars— half-way or more to ends of pterygoids Poatorbital processes moderate, slighter obsolete strong, transverse, acute Anteorbital foramen bounded above by slender maxillary process, large, aubtriangnlar, or oval, presenting downward-forward •a 1 i 8 NORTH AMUBICAN MUHTELID.Ii. St^edule of liyfvniilial ckamcten nf Hii: \orlk .tmrimH gtHetii—Cuuilanoii. iiwUMm. AntnorblUl fiiraiuvu bnundud by ntoiit pnicuis, pruneiittiig more or leM vertirally Aperture of imre* iu two plmie*, upproauhliiKtho vortloal and horl- loiiUl on*> plane or noarly no, more or lemt oblique. . . Auditory bullio at iimxiiiMini of iuHatiou, witb nhorUiHl aod leaat tubular uieatua muah luflalml, wllb moderate oonatrlotlou Into tbe tubular nieatna little liiHated, luuoh conatrlnted aoroia the lueatua liaatoida little develo|MMl, outward or backward wore duvolo|Nid, outward I'luch developed, downward Ferlotlo region oontrautod, brliigluK paroccipltala cloae to auditory bullte .". . expandnti, removing parooolpltala from bullus, and liorizontal expanded, removing parooelpltala ftttm bnlln, very oblique Glenoid foaaas shallow, open, without anterior ledge, preaentlna more forward than downward, never looKlng condyles. .. moderately deep and clone, with anterior Imlge pre- senting downward- forward, never looking con- dyles very deep and close, with strong anterior and pos- terior ledges, sometimes locking condyles Ooronoid process of Jaw in protlle conical, erect, apex forward of cond vie obtusely falcate, sloping, apex overhanging condyle Lower border of Jaw sti-alghtisb fh>m symphysis to posterior angle usually ascending posteriorly, in straight or concave line Toea scarcely or not webbed, with ordinary ratio of lengths fully webbed, with ordinary ratio of lengtha those of the nind feet elongated, witb extraordi- nary ratio of lengths ,.. Fore claws long, stout, little curved, highly fossorial .*. moderate or short, curved and acute, not fossorial Body very stout; sisi very large; tail bushy, short; appearance somewhat Iwar-like rather slender or extremely so; size medium and small ; tail long, terete stoat I sise medium and small ; tail long, very bushy stout, much depressed; sice medium ; tail short, distichous-... stout, cylindrical ; size large j tail long, conical, dose-haired. .. Habits chiefly terrestrial terrestrial and highly arboreal strictly terrestriaiand more or less fossorial aquatic (flu vf atile, lauas'rine, or maritime) aquatic (mrxine) Sach a table as this might be indefinitely continaed, bat the foregoing analysis of leading differential characters saffices for present purposes. DIAONOSES OF NORTH AMERICAN 8UI1FAMILIKH. Dued. ■In. ^ H -J « < X .. .. < « .. .. < X .. .. < .. X x • X •• .. « . .. X x' • X .. .. < .. .. • .. X K •• X » IC XX,. .. -- X X X X X .. .. .. X .. .. •• X X • • ■ , .. X X .. X K • • • • ■• X •• ,, .. X .. .. •• X the I for We limy tlnally Hum nnd tiiiiplify tlio differential uhiiructers of tbe foregoing table, with utiiera, in the following expreHsions, diagno»tlu of the Ave subttiiuiliei* here adopted : — DIAGNOSES OF THE FIVE NORTH AMERICAN SUnPAMILIRS. 1. ISIusTELiNiG. — Teeth of ordinary Caruivoroua pattern, 38 or 3-i in nuiubor, according to varying number of premolars, whether ^| (Om/o, Mwttcla) or Jl^J^/Vto* jiw); the number unequal in the two jaws, ^or ,^; incisors constantly ^; canines J;J, as in all Mustelidw; and molars .^^, as in all MuHtcliihv excepting Mel- lirotina'. Molar of upper jaw much wider than long; its long axis transverse to the axis of the dental series, longitudinally constricted across the middle. Posterior upper premolar (the largo *' sectorial" tooth) narrow and linear, with a small dis- tinct spur projecting inward from its anteroiuterior corner. Rostral partof skull moderately produced, sloping in profile, very obliquely truncated, transversely convex, the hind endsof the na- sals more nearly opposite the roots of the zygoma than their fore ends are.* Cerebral portion of skull comparatively compressed backward, little broader behind than before, with moderately convex lateral outlines. Postorbital processes moderately develoi)od. Anteorbital foramen small, oval or subcircular, presenting upward forward {Oulo) or more or less downward forward {MusteUXf Putorius). Posterior nares thrown into one common conduit by absence of bony septum. Bony palate pro- duced far back of molars, — half-way (more or less) to ends of pterygoids; interpterygoid space longer than wide. Audi- tory buUcB much inflated, with moderate constriction of the tubular uieatus.t Little or no expansion of periotic region behind the buUie, with which the paroccipitals appear in contact. Mastoids little developed, presenting outward or backward. Glenoid fossae shallow, the anterior ledge slight ; condyles never locked. Coronoid process of mandible erect, conical in profile, the posterior outline with forward upward obliquity {Mustelaf FutoriuSy — more nearly vertical in Gulo)^ the apex in advance of the condyle. Feet with ordinary development and ratio of * It 18 carious to obaerve thf^t an aquatic species of PutoriMt (P. VMOti, tbe Mink) tends to approach the aquatic Otters {LiitriHw and Enhydrino!) in the relative shortness of rostrum, its less oblique truncation, flatness on top, &o. tHere again the aquatic Putoriua riaon approaches the other aquatic species of different subfamilies in tlie comparative flutuess of the bullie. 10 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. It II digits ; digits iucorapletely or not webbed. External appear- ance and habits variable, according to the genera and species, none strictly fossorial ; progression digitigrade and subplanti- grade ; size from nearly the maximun) to the tuiniiuuni in the family ; body never much depressed, nor tail conical or distich- ous. Periiueal glands moderately developed. No peculiar sub- caudal pouch. Nature highly predacious. 2. Mephitinje. — Teeth of ordinary Carnivorous pattern, 34 or 32 in number, according to varying number of premolars, whether ^ {Mephitis and Spilogale) or indifferently ^ or ||^ (Conepatus)} the number unequal in the two jaws, |" or |^. In- cisors, canines, and molars as in the last subfamily. Molar of upper jaw quadrate, about as wide as long (varying in detail with the genera). Posterior upper premolar with a large inner shelf, giving a triangular shape to the tooth. Bostral part of skull moderately produced, and otherwise much as in the last (aperture of nares very oblique in Conepatus) ; cerebral portion as in Mttstelina, Postorbital processes slight or obsolete. An- teorbital foramen very small, circular, sometimes subdivided into two or more canals. Posterior nares completely separated by a bony septum reaching to the end of the bony palate. Bony palate ending opposite last molars {Mephitis, Spilogale) or a little back of them, but not half-way to ends of pterygoids, {Conepatus). Auditory bullre little inflated, with much constric- tion of the tubular meatus. Mastoids well developed, outward. Periotic region flattened and expansive behind the bullae, the surface nearly horizontal, the paroccipitals remote from the bullae. Glenoid shallow, presenting much forward as well as downward, without anterior wall, never locking condyle. Coro- noid process of jaw conical in profile, erect, wholly in advance of condyle (except in Conepatus, which, in this respect, singularly resembles Enhydra). Feet with ordinary development and ratio of digits; digits not webbed. Form stout; tail very bushy; {:elagelong; colors black and white. Habits strictly terrestrial, more or less fossorial; progression plantigrade; movements slow. Size moderate and small. No peculiar subcaudal pouch. Perinseal glands extraordinarily developed, affording a means of offence and defence. 3. Melin^.* — Teeth of ordinary Carnivorous pattern, 34 in * The cbaractera here given are drawu entirely from the American genus Taxidea. and will require modification in order to their applicability to the subfamily at large. DIAGNOSES OP NORTH AMERICAN SUBFAMILIES. 11 number (in the North American genus); Pm. ^; the number unequal in the two jaws, |^; incisors.cauines, and molars as in the last. Molar of upper jaw triangular, the long side postero- exterior. Posterior upper premolar substantially as in Mephitinw. Kostral portion of skull as in the foregoing; cerebral portion conical, rapidly widening backward, with nearly straight lateral outlines. Postorbital processes moderately well developed. Anteorbital foramen large, subtriangular, presenting vertically. Posterior nares as in Mephitina;. Bony palate produced back of the molars, as in Mustelinoi. Auditory bullie very highly inflated, with little constriction across the short tubular portion. Periotio region much as in Mustelina', the paroccipitals close to the enormous bullte. Mastoids moderately developed, outward. Glenoid fossa very deep, with prominent anterior as well as posterior walls, at length locking in the condyle. Gorouoid process as in the foregoing. Feet with ordinary development and ratio of digits, not webbed. Body stout, extremely de- pressed ; tail short, stout, flattened ; size medium ; snout some- what hog-like. Progression plantigrade. Terrestrial and highly fossorial; fore claws highly developed. Perineeal glands mod- erately developed. A peculiar subcaudal pouch. 4. LuTBiNJs:. — ^Teeth of ordinary Garnivorous pattern, 36 in number; Pm. ^; the number equal in the two jaws, jg; incisors, canines, and molars as before. Molar of upper jaw quadrate. Back upper premolar substantially as in Mephitinw and Melintc. Kostral part of skull extremely short, bringing the fore ends of the nasals nearly or quite opposite the anterior root of the zygoma, the sides of the rostrum erect, the top flat. Cerebral portion of the skull much swollen backward, with strongly convex lateral outlines. Postorbital processes variable (highly devel- oped in the North American species, slight or wanting in some others). Anteorbital foramen very large, presenting obliquely downward as well as forward, circumscribed above by a very slender maxillary process. Posterior nares as in MusteUnte. Bony palate produced far back of molars. Auditory bullae very flat. Periotic region expanded, removing the paroccipitals from the bulhe, but the surface not horizontal as in Mephitimc, but very oblique. Mastoids highly developed, downward. Glenoid much as in Melinw, deep, sometimes locking condyle. Coronoid as in the foregoing. Feet with ordinary development and ratio of digits, which are fully webbed. Claws variable, sometimes rudimentary or wanting. Body stout, but elongate and cylin- 12 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. drical; tail loDg, conical, tapering, sometimes dilated, dose- haired; muzzle very obtnse. Highly aqaatic in habits. Pelage Tvhole-colored. 5. Enhydbin^. — Teeth very aberrant in general pattern, the molars and premolars without trenchant edges or acute angles, but tuberculous, 32 in number, and of equal nnmbAr in both jaws, brought about by incisors |^ and premolars ^^i? ^^^ ^^' nines and molars remaining as before. Molar of upper jaw irreg- ularly oval ; back upper premolar defunctionalized as a ** sec- torial" tooth, and substantially similar to the molar. Propor- tions of rostral and cerebral parts of the skull substantially as in Lutrina\ but rather an exaggeration of that conformation. Postorbital processes moderate. Antcorbital foramen very large, triangular, presenting downward and forward; the bridge over it very slender. Posterior nares as in Lutrintv. Palate produced far back of molars ; iuterpterygoid space very wide, the emargination rather wider than deep. Auditory bullse, periotic region, mastoids, and glenoids as in LKtrimv. Goronoid sloping backward, obtusely falcate, its apex overtopping con- dyle. Hind feet with extraordinary development and ratio of digits, being transformed into Seal-like flippers ; otherwise gen- eral configuration and external appearance substantially as in Lutrince. Highly aquatic and marine. ON THE ODORIFEROUS ANAL GLANDS OF THE MUSTELID^. Throughout this family of Carnivores are found special secre- tory apparatus in the perinseal region, which furnish a strongly odorous fluid. These glands are so highly developed, and play such a part in the economy of the animals, that special notice is to be taken of them. A classification of the MustelidcB has even been proposed, based chiefly upon their modifications in the different genera. They early attracted attention, and have long been generally known to zoologists. Quito recently a French anatomist, M. Ghatin, has made them a special study, publishing a very important and interesting paper upon the subject.* This paper, so far as it relates to the Mustelida (for the author has studied the odorous anal glands of various other animals), I have translated for incorporation with the present work ; under heads of the several species beyond will be found * Recherches poar servir h I'biBtoire auatoiniqae des glandes odorantes des mammif^res. Par M.-J. Cbatin. <^ Annates des Sciences Natarelles, 5" sdr., tome x\x, pp. 1-1S5, planches i-ix, lb74. ANAL GLANDS IN HUSTELID^. Id the matter relating to them. Here I introduce M. Chatin's de- scriptions of the parts as they appear in Mustelu foina^ for the same type of straotare obtains throughout the subfamily Mus- telime. I also bring in the author s r^sum^ of the several mod- ifications of structure found in the family at large, with extracts from his proposed classificatioa of the family, as based prima- rily upon these organs, though I should add that I do not indorse his views without qualification. 1.— Description of the glands in Mustela foina, as illustrating their structure throughout the subfamily Mustelina;.* The anal glandular apparatus being essentially the same throughout the Mustelince, the following description of the parts as they appear in Mustela foina will suffice : — The anal orifice is found at the bottom of a fossa covered with thin, smooth, whitish integument, with a slightly raised border, the rudiment of a fold which is much more highly de- veloped in the Skunk. At each side of this fossa, in a small special depression, in front of which this fold lies, is found an umbilicated papilla, through the narrow orifice of which the milky-whitish secretion of the anal gland exudes. Within the perinsBum are two lateral masses, each as large as a small bean, bound together by one muscular envelope. The anal gland is 11 millimetres long and 6 across the middle. Upon removal of the muscular coat, which is rather delicate, the secretory part comes into view ; its exterior is studded with nipple-like emi- nences ; its substance is like that of the anal glands of most Garnivores. The parenchymatous tissue mainly consists of lam- inated fibres, elastic fibres, nerve tubes, and capillaries ; the striped muscular fibres do not penetrate the substance of the organ. The culs-de-sac are of an average diameter of 0.04 millimetre ; they are sometimes varicose or moniliform, and in- close a granular substance. In the middle of the gland is a small receptacle for the product of secretion, which is voided through a short duct opening on the edge of the anus, as above said. It seems improbable that a scanty supply of merely disa- greeably musky liquid can effectively answer in any way as a means of defence. The simple fact that it does not appear to be repugnant to the animals which may be supposed inimical * For tbemoditications nf the strnctartt of the organs in Skunks and Badg- ers, see'sabfamilies MrphitiiKe and MeHnte, 14 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIPiE. to Martens and Weasels, is sufficient to invalidate such a hypothesis. It is true that it is emitted when the animals are angered, terrified, or put in pain ; but these are merely circum* stances of irritation akin in many respects to other forms of excitement. It is more probable that the secretion subserves a purpose in the sexnal relation, as it is undeniably a means vrhereby the sexes may discover and be attracted toward each other. 2. — Resume of the several types of h^ructure of the odoriferous glands in Mustelidw. The Ferrets and Martens exhibit one general plan of struct- ure of the anal glands. At each side of the termination of the rectum, there is an oval body consisting of a tunic of mus- cular striped fibres enveloping a mass of glands, in the midst of which is a receptacle of variable capacity, containing a liq- uid differing little in its properties, which is poured out through a short duct opening upon a pore at each side of the anus. In the Badgers, Skunks, and Eatcls, there are decided mod- ifications of this plan. In the last two named, the true anal glands alone exist, and these are quite different from those of the Mustelina;. Instead of a thin and simple muscular envel- ope of the gland, we find a thick fleshy tunic, formed of two layers of interlaced fibres, capable of sudden strong compres- sion of the receptacle. This latter is not a small simple sac with laminar walls, such as is found in the centre of the gland of Mustelinw, but is an enormous reservoir, with a dense resist- ing fibrous coat, always containing a considerable quantity of the follicular product. The glandular substance is not spread all over this central capsule, but is restricted to a particular portion, and contrasts by its dark color with the white surface of the envelope of the pouch. The contents of the receptacle are sufficiently offensive to justify the profound and universal disgust which these animals excite in consequence of their curious and very efficacious means of defence. The voiding of the liquid must be sudden ; and it does not suffice that the re- ceptacle is large and powerfully muscular ; the offensive liquid must be directed far backward, so as to flow as little m possible upon the rectal mucous membrane; consequently the opening is large and upon the summit of an nmbilicated papilla, around which rests a cutaneous fold, which in a measure directs the discharge. Ii M ANAL GLANDS OF MUSTELID^. 15 This general plan is further modified in the Badgers, where not only are there anal glands of a usual type, but also in their neighborhood is found, in both sexes, a racemose cluster of glands, the secretion of which is turned into the subcaudal pouch, which is generally described as appertaining to the anus; but 'Is form is peculiar, and its contents, moreover, are of a different character from those of the anal glands proper. In some respects this pouch resembles the large reservoirs of viverreum of the Civets, and, as in these cases, is sparsely hairy. Thus the Badger is a special case in its own family, where it distantly represents, in this respect, the ViverridcB. These last have, in addition to anal glands, a secretory appa- ratus for special products, though even here species of Herpestis have anal glands like those of various Mustelidw. 3. — ResumS of M. Chatin'8 views of the classification of the family, as based on the odoriferous glands. " This is one of the least homogeneous families of Carnivora, if we include in it, after Van der Hoeven and others, such dif- ferent animals as the Otter, Polecat, Badger, Skunk, Marten, and Batel. Ij is surprising that types so distinct as these should have been suffered to remain thus far in an association as intimate as it is un philosophical, and it is easily seen how Milue-Edwards was enabled to form three families out of the components of so miscellaneous an assemblage as that of the Mmtelidw. In the configuration of the limbs, as well as in their entirely peculiar habits, the Otters may represent one family {Lutridw) ; then come the true Mustelidw, embracing Mustela, Piitorius, &c. ; and, finally, the family Melidic, consisting of Mephitis (with Conepatus, &c.), Meles {Taxidea, & agreeably to which the initial t straightway becomes fixed in the Romanic names of the animal, in the Italian, tasao ; in the Spanish, t^on (and tesajo^ smoked meat) ; the Portuguese texugo ; while the Old French had its Umson, of which only tanUre (from taianiere), meaning particularly a Badger- burrow, and, generally, the den of a wild beast, remains in modern French. The poet Tasso, and the founder of the German postal system, Taxis, derive their family name from daehs^ Badger, as the old Roman agitator Sp. Maelius probably also did. The word itself may be originally German, and have be • come naturalized in France, Spain, and Italy with the migra- tions of German races. To derive it from the Sanskrit iakaha (Greek rszrwv), a carpenter, to be taken in the sense of an ar- chitect, is rather far-fetched. Another series of names of the Badger in Northern Europe begins with J5, as the French Mai- reau, the English badger^ the Danish broTi,* and the Russian borstik ; but it is not certain that these are all etymologically re- lated. Blaireau,^ in Middle- Age Latin blerellm, is interpreted by Diez as the diminutive of the mediaeval Latin bladariu8, a grain- merchant (Romanic biado, late French 6/e, grain) ; and in support of this it is argued that the English name of the animal, badger, signifies also a dealer in grain. Suoh connection requires us to * " Brock " ia also found as an Eugliah provincialism.— Tr. tWhich is corrupted, in America, into Biaro, Brairo, and Prarow.— Tk. 22 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIU.f;. I, I invent Ibo certainly erroiieoiiHuxplHiiatiuntlifit the auinuil layM up a Htore of proviHions in itH domicile, U8 if it drove a trade in grain. Dietenbiich's derivation from the Celtic, originally Cym- ric, word blawr, jjray, seems to me to bo nearer the mark; it would then 1h» "the little gray beast"; and it is corroborative of this that the uuiniul is called, in Picardy, pman/; in Sweden and Denmark, graving or griijling, that is to say, Orauling, " a gray or grizzly beast". But the proper Celtic name of the ani- mal is broc; in the Gaelic. Irish, and Brt'tonic remarkably like the Danish broh; and somewhat similar to borauk, which prevails in Poland, Russia, and Siberia ; there this name for the Badger is current among the Bashkirs, Kirghiz, and Buchares, and is rendered borz by the Magyars; so we may consider it a primitive Turanian word, the more so since the South Sclavonic uses an- other term, in Cnrniola, jo;snrec or jasbez ; in Bohemia, geziceo. The WaWsichian f jezure ov enure, which has been incorrectly con- sidered as from the Latin esor, eater, is probably related. YiELFBASS [Gttlo Imcua], — According to the latest investi- gations, the Glutton inhabited Middle Europe nearly to the Alps, in the period of the Lake-dwellers {P/ahlbauten, literally pile-buildings), together with the Beindeer; and of its occur- rence in Germany, even in the last century, two cases are given, one at Frauenstein in Saxony, by Klein, 1751, the other at Helbistadt in Brunswick, by Zimmermann, 1777, both, unfor- tunately, without the particulars. Though both these zoolo- gists saw the stuffed specimen, neither gives the date of cap- ture, the first only stating that it occurred nnder Augustus II, who died in 1733. These can only have been stray specimens, since no contemporaneous or previous writer mentions the oc- currence of the animal in Germany. The species was entirely unknown in the Middle Ages, making its first appearance in literature through Michow, a physician of Cracow (de Sarma- tia Asiana et Europsea, 1532), as Lithuanian and Moscovitie, and through Bishop Olaus Magnus, of Upsala, 1563, as an ani- mal of North Sweden, thus nearly at the limit of its present distribution. What we can gather from the name of the ani- mal accords perfectly with this. In Europe, names are only found in the vernacular proper of Scandinavia and Bnssia, ja')/ or jerv of the former, and rossomaka of the latter, both of which are given by the above-mentioned historians; all German, French, Latin, and such, are book-names, intended to denote '"■"'it ETYMOLOGY OF NAMEH OF MU«TELID.«. 23 the voracity of tUe aiiiiual, and point back to the well-known acfount of Olaus, as the CiHiiuan Viel/ruHn, the Latin Gulo, the French (Houton, the Kiigli-sh Glutton. It has often been as- Herted that the Oerman Viel/rnmi, in the sense of glutton, is a uiisunderstandiug, it being derived from the Swedish word /jail, Norwegian /jail, nw^k or cliff; but this 1 cannot credit, first, be<'ause the second syllable is not accounted for on such supposition {Jjall—ydrf is remote, and the animal is nowhere BO called, but simply jar/)', secondly, because both the Swed* ish Olaiis Magnus and the Norwegian Bishop Pontoppi 'an give its voracity special prominence, and from this trait dtr'Ty the name jerf {gierv, "gierig", greedy!), translated Oulo aud V!el/raH8. Another Norwegian clergyman, H. Strom, gives, in- deed, the designation Field/rans, besides jer/, to the animal, which is of rare occurrence in his locality, but with the explicit remark that Field/raas was, beyond doubt, derived from the German word Viel/ra«8. This is thus exactly contrary to the usual German acceptation; aud, in fact, '^Felseufrass'' would be a singular appellation. ZoBEL [Muatela zibellina]. — The name appears as early as the latter half of the Middle Ages, uuder many variations, as the modern Latin, aabelus, zihellina ; German, zebel (as early as the ninth century, according to Graff), zobel; Proven9al, 8ebeli ; English and old French, sable ; Swedish, mbel ; Russian, sobol ; Finnish, 8oboli — in every case meaning a northern peltry. In the East, we find another variation, samur, in the Crimea and Armenia, and thence to Servia and Wallachia. The name is probably of Turanian origin. Mabdeb [Mu8tela martes, M. /oina], — This word now occurs in Germanic and Romanic languages, in both either with or without the second R, as the Spanish and Portuguese marta^ in the former as a feminine noun, and likewise the French la marte, though in some dialects la martre, the ProveuQal mart, Italian martora and martorella ; the English martin [or, oftener, marten — Tb.] appears to be an easy way of saying martern, still in use in some localities ; Dutch marter^ Swedish mard, Danish maar. Seeking for the earliest form of the word, we first find mMVtes in Martial, the Spanish-born Roman poet ; but this can scarcely be an old Latin word, as it is not found in Pliny or other classical writers; and Martial often introduced foreign 24 NORTH AMERICAN MUStELID^. words iato his Latin. In Anglo-Saxon, it only appears as meardh ; whilst, on the other hand, in Germany, we find martarm used by Hildegard and Albertas Magnus, in the twelfth and thir- teenth centuries. The resemblance to the German verb " mar- tern*' (to torment] is obvious ; in fact, " martern" might be de fined " to act like a marten ", the proper implication being, not the sanguinary murders the marten commits, but the palpable torment which it designedly inflicts. Another derivation comes decidedly nearer — martyr, mea^uiug a person tortured, from martyrittm, torture, whence the verb first arose. The resem- blance in sound may have occasioned the second B in those cases in which it appears. We might also seek to establish a connection between " marder", a marten, and " Morder", Ger- man for a murderer; but the T, which occurs in a majority of the forms of the word, is against this, as is also the fact that the German name occurs in many languages to which " Mord -^ and *♦ Morder " do not belong. A second Romanic name of the Marten is fidna; Spanish and Italian the same, Portuguese /Mtn/m, Freuch la fotiine; in some dialects with a in place of u, as in certain Italian locali ties fainay in Provence faguino, fahino, Old French fayne; Gatalonian fagina, Belgic faweina^ in the Cmton of Grau- biindtea further modified into Jierna. The obsolete German names of certain pelts, Fehe, Feh-toamme, are very likely re- lated. The word is not Latin as the name of an animal ; but it may be inquired, with respect to the later forms, whether it does not probably signify marta fagina, Beech-marten, as one of the two European species of the genus is often named;' properly the Tree- or Pine-marten, in distinction from the Stone- or House-marten, since the former lives in the forest, the latter about buildings ; though very curiously, the Stone- marten [Miistela foina] is the Martarua or Maries fagorum of Albertus Magnus and afterward of Ray, whilst the Pine- marten [M. martes] is distinguished as M. abietum, ** Martha of the firs". The precise distinction between fouine, foina = Stone-marten, and martey martes == Pine-marten, moreover, may have been first set forth by Buffor and Linui«us, and have obtained rather among zoologists than among the people at large; the more valuable Pine-marten ["Edel- marder", liter- ally " noble marten "J took the commonest name, leaving the less popular one for the other rarer species. From this /outne, ETYMOLOGY OF NAMES OF MUSTELID^. 25 the French have formed the verb fouiner, to pry into or rum- mage abont.* The Celtic, Sclavonic, and Finnish names are entirely differ- ent, as are the Cymric bela,^ the Russian, Polish, Bohemian, and Crainish kuna, Finnish and Laplandish natM; with which the Magyaric nyest or nest accords. iLTis [Putorius fcctid us].— The German name is found under many variations, according to localities, particularly in North Germany, as iltnis, eltis, Danish ilder, Swedish iller; further- more, with k, ilk, ulk, according to Bechstein in Thuringia even Hau8-unk, which is the well known name of a reptile [toad]; and again with 6, elh-thier, elbkatze, which has been sought to be derived from elben = elves, the nocturnal sprites; but the oldest form of the word known to me, illihenzus of Albertus Magnus (thirteenth century), is little unfavorable to this etymology. The Dutch burning stands entirely alone. The Romanic languages name the species simply from its bad smell, as the Italian puzzola^ French putois, mediteval Latin putorim, the pusnais of French animal-fable, which is the same as purrtise, a bed-bug. The second portion of the English name, pole-cat, is of obvious meaning; agreeably to which we find in Diefc bach (Celtica, ii, p. 435) that in Wales, in early times, the animal was kept, or, more likely, suffered to remain, about houses, to destroy mice.j; Another English name, Jitcher, Jitchet [or fitch — Te.], related to the old French fissan, apparently indicates the same capacity in which the animal was employed or regarded. The Sclavonic languages have a particular word, tschor, tschorz, or tscher, in Carniolan twor, in Roumanian dihor. By Pliny (8, 55, 84), this species is called viverra, probably an Iberian word no longer occurring in later languages, and which Linn^us first reapplied in zoology to the Civet-cats. Since the Middle Ages, however, two forms of the name of this animal have simultaneously appeared, the first without t, furo of Isidor of Sevilla (seventh century), whence the present Por- • " Durchsuchen, durchstobera''; so defined by the writer, bnt other au- thority defines fouiner to slink otf, to sneak away ; iised only in trivial style. But either meaning is sufficiently characteristic of the auiraals. — Tr. t Obviously related to the modern French belette—aeo beyond. — Tr. i The whole English word, pole-cat, is by s«»iuo simply rendered " Polish- cat", as if the animal were originally from Poland. In America, the word has been very commonly transferred to I'le Skunks, Mephitis: Catesby's pol- cat is such, and Kalm's fiskatta is transited pole-vat.— Tn. If I 26 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. tuguese /urao, aud the Spanish huron, transferred by the Span- ish colonists to the South American Galictis vittata, and the North American Mustela hnro Fr. Cav., aud furetus of the Em- peror Frederick II, considered as French by Albertus Magnus, with which the present French furet, English ferret, Celtic fured and fearaid, German frett, are all related. The -et may be a diminutive form, or be a part of the original word ; it is slighted by the etymologist Isidor, who somewhat gratuitously finds in it the Latin /wr, thief. The word cannot be Arabic, for Isidor died in 636, before the irruption of the Arabs into Africa. But if, as Shaw states, the Weasel is called /ert in Barbary, the probability is that the word, like others, is common to the North African pre- Arabic and the Iberian pre-Romanic languages, and that it is this very animal which Strabo calls the North African (Libyan) Weasel.* ::!:ii WiESEL [Putorius vulgaris]. — This wor.l f ^ found in most of the Germanic languages: Swedish ivessia; English weeselor weasel; Dutch tcezel. It may be traced back to late mediaeval German and Anglo-Saxon. The Swabian verb tcuseln, to skip about ("»«cfe rasch bewegen^) like any small creature, may readily be derived from wiesel, notwithstanding the difference in the vowel. In this case again, as in the instance of dachsj the same word recurs in Spanish, but without the diminutive termination, as veso. It is found in medisBval Latin of the twelfth century, aud was by the Romanic colonists bestowed upon an American Musteline animal {Putorius vison, the repre- sentative of the European Mink). The ordinary French term for the Weasel, belette, is diminutive of the old French hele, from the Geltic and the present Welch beUif a mar:^^\9. and also occurs under a different modification in North '^' i'/, which was certainly once inhabited by Celts. It may aii d more readily have been preserved in French, since it may be con- sidered related to helle, pretty, and be so interpreted. Certainly in many languages the Weasel derives its name from its neat and elegant ways, as the Italian donnola and Portuguese doninhttf little lady; the Spanish comadrejaj god-mother; the * According to Rolleston ( Journ. Anat. and Phys. i. 1867, p. 47 aeq.) the Cat and the Marten were both domesticated in Italy nine hundred years before the period of the Crusades, and the latter, Mustela foina, was the " cat " or ydkQ of the ancients, who, farthermore, called Mnatela martea ya/i^ "yp'^o, and designated rherra genetta as rap-njaaia j a\>j. — Tr. ETYMOLOGY OP NAMES OF MUSTELID.E. 27 andereigerra* of the inhabitants of Biscay, meaning the same as the Portuguese word just given; the late Greek vu/i^jra, v:S5j>a, a hunt; since * does not become t in Latin. According to Bisso, the Weasel is called moustelle to this very day in Nice, and in Lorraine, according to Diez, moteUe; this is a partial persistence of the name which, among the Romans, not only indicated the Weasel as the species best known to them, but also included the other Musteline animals in general. So it was also with the Greek ya/Jr^ (Ba^^rachomyomachia, 9) or yaX^ (Arist. Hist. An. 2, 1, and his not very well written book 9, (hap. 6), the best-known Greek species of the Marten family, yellowish, white beneath, and a mouser; whilst the fable that it was a transformed maiden (Ovid, Metam. 9, 306-323; Galanthis, with the express statement that the beast still lived about houses) accords well with the complimentary names already mentioned. Thus mustela is primarily our Weasel [Putorius vulgaris], though occasionally other species receive the same name, as, for example, an African one, in Eerodotas, 4, 192. More difficult to explain is the second Greek name, 7 ^xn?, the skin of which, according to Homer (Iliad, 10, 333), made a night-cap for a Trojan hero, and which, according to Pseudo- Aristotle, Hist. An. 9, 6, was of the size of a small Mrltese dog {^^Malteser Hundchens'^), like a Weasel, white underneath, and fond of honey. This latter circumstance caused Cetti to sep- * Precisely the same as the Latiu vtuliercula. — Tr. ,1 r i 1:. I I } !;i 28 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID/E. arate his boccamela ("honey-mouth" — as we should say, "hav- ing a sweet tooth "), which is, however, a species scarcely dis- tinguishable from P. vulgaris {of. Zool. Gart. 1867, p. 68). Au- bert and Wimmer, on the other hand, argue for Musiela foina, as this animal is common in Greece, wuere it is still called UtU ; the latter position is certainly well taken, and the Marten, as the larger animal, better fulfils the Homeric indica- tion just given; but the expression "white underneath" is only true of the throat of the Martens, for both species of Miistela are dark-colored on the belly, and in this respect very different from the Weasel. For the rest, it is much more prob- able that Aristotle named both the Marten and the Weasel together, than that he distinguished two kinds of Weasels and knew nothing whatever of the Marten. !Hermelin [Ptttorins erminea]. — Though this name sounds like a foreign word, it is nevertheless probably of German ori- gin, since not only are there several provincial variations of less strange accent, like Heermdnchen and Hdrmehen^ but there is also the simple harmo of old German manuscripts of the ninth to the eleventh century (Graff, althochdeutscher Sprach- schatz). From this came harmelin, of the twelfth century, simply the diminutive. The name went with the peltries into foreign lands, becoming the Italian arnielUno, the Spanish arminoj the French [and English] ermine — originally, with Al- bertus Magnus, who had many French forms of names, ermini- um, — and came back to the German as Hermelin, with a foreign accent, on the last syllable. The she-fox Ermeley n, in the Fable of "Reinecke Fuchs" ["The Beasts at Court"], obviously derived her name from this animal. In Lithuanian, we find szarnm or szarmonys as the name of the same animal, which is the same as harmo, according to the rules for the rendering of the sound, just as the Lithuanian szirdis is the German herz. The inter- pretation of Hermelin as the " Armenian Mouse " is thus vir- tually refuted. The Swedes call the animal ro88-kat and lelcaty the latter probably shortened from Lemmingskatze, since the creature is destructive to Lemmings. In North France, we find for the Ermine the name roselet, obviously indicating its red- dish color, and with this corresponds the fabulous name Bossel, offspring of the Ermeleyn. The South European languages have no special name of their own for the Ermine, since it is there found only in the mountains, as the Southern Alps and the Balkan for example. ■m ETYMOLOGY OF NAMKS OF MUSTELIDiE. 29 NoEZ [Putorius lutreo}a].—Thifi anim:^! is at ouce proclaimed to be East European by its name; for the word, first used in Germany by the Saxou mineralogist Agricola, in 1546, is Scla- vonic; the Russian is norka, the South Russian nortschilc, the Polish nurek^ from the verb nurka, to dive. The Swedes alone, in whose country the animal also appears, have a particular name for it, mdnk, which is the source of the mink or minx ap- plied to the different North American species [P. vison]. Otter \Lutra vulgaris]. — To the comparative philologist this word offers a field as broad as it is difficult, for the names of the animal in various European languages are enough alike to be compared, yet suflQciently dissimilar to be questioned as the same word; the initial particularly differs in a suspicious manner: otter, Intra, evudpt^. In Sanskrit and Zend,* we find for an aquatic animal, of what kind is not known with cer- tainty, but which may easily have been the Fish-otter, the name udra-s, derived from the root ud, water (Latin tidu8, Greek udwp). With this agrees perfectly the Lithuanian ndra, the Gurlandic and Livonian uderis^ and, with slight change of the initial, wydra, which obtains throughout the Sclavonic tongues, the Roumanian vidre — all of which are actual names of the Otter. In the Germanic languages, the u becomes o; otr in the old Northern sagas, ottar in old mediaeval German, otter in the present German, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish, though in the latter the early initial u sometimes reappears, giving utter. The change of d into t is the rule in the rendering of the sound of Sanskrit, Greek, Lithuanian, and Sclavonic in the Germanic languages, although in pure German this consonant properly changes into sharp « {udtop, water — "troAAer"), as is not, how- ever, the case with the name of the animal. In Greek, we find, as the name of the Otter, evudpi^^ Herod. 2, 72, and 4, 109, ivudpU, Arist. Hist. An. 1, 1, and 8, 5, or svu8po PtM. Spio. Zool. xiv. 1780 ; also of BoddcBrt, 1784. =6Bl0t Storr,* Prod. Meth. Hamm. 1780, and of late authors generally. (From Klein.) < Taxu, Tiedem. ZoSl. L 1808. * This extremely rare work has lately been made the subject of a critical essay by Prof. T. Gill, who examined a copy in the library of the Surgeon- General, U. S. Army, at Washington (" Ori the ' Prodromus Methodi Mam- malinm ' of Storr". By Theodore Gill. E £tracted from the Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, October, 1874. Philadelphia : Collins, printer, 1876. 8vo. pamph., 1 p. 1., pp. i-xiii). The fall title, as quoted by Gill, is as follows : — Prodromvs Methodi Mammalivm. | Reotore Yniyersitatis magnifi- centissimo | sereuissimo atqve potentissimo | dvce ao domino | Carolo | dvee WvTtembergiffi ac Teccise regnante, | rel. rel. | — | Ad institvendam | ex decreto gratiosie facvltatis medicse | pro legitime oonseqvendo | doctoris medicinse gradv | inavgvralem dispvtationem | propositvs | prseside | Gottl. CoxR. Christ. Storr | medicin» dootore, hvivs, chemise et botanices | pro- fessore publico ordinario | vniversitatis H. T. pro-i-ectore, | respondente | FridericoWoWer, | Bohnlandense. | — | Tvhingce, d. Jul. MDCCLXXX. | — | Litteria Keissianis. [4to, 43 pp., 4 tables.] 32 THE GENUS GULO. 88 ENE. rene — Syn- iil cbarao- nd teeth— ure of the meral his- } distribu- abfatnilj 98, 1 may e group. . Bcond of S is BUS- lera will y^oted to n Klein.) a critical SargeoD- odi Mam- in of the Collios, [uoted by magaiii- •lo j dvce dam I ex dootoris I Gk)TTL. 268 I pro- adente | z.i-1 Generic charactkhb.— Dental formula : i. J— ; <•• —^ ; pm. j^ ; m, }^\ = J-^ = 38 (as in Muatela). Sectorialtooth of lower jaw (anterior true M.) without an internal cnBp(u8nallyeviav.utin JiMsfc/a). Anteorbital fora- men presenting obliquely upward as well us "orward, canal-like, and open- ing over interspace between last and pennltimate premolars. Sknll little constricted at the middle ; rostral portion relatively shorter, atonter, and more obliquely truncated anteriorly than in ilitstela. General upper oi tline of the skull in profile more arched. Mastoids and auditory tubus mora pro- duced, the whole periotio region decidedly more prominent. Zygomatic arch very high behind, at first ascending vertically, then giving off a pos- terior convexity. -Depth of emargination of palate about equal to distance thence to the molars. Skull, as a whole, massive, finally developing strong ridges. Vertebral formula ; c. 7 ; d. 15 ; ^ 5 ; ». 3 j cd. 15 or 16. {Gerrard.) Size much above the average for this family, and nearly at a maximum (Galictiaalone, of this subfamily, is said to be larger). Form very stoat, and general appearance rather Bear-like than Weasel-like ; organization ro- bust. Legs short and stout. Tail short (about as long as the head), bushy, with drooping hairs. Pelage shaggy. Ears low. Soles densely hairy, with six small naked pads. Claws strong, acute, much curved. Coloration pe- culiar.* Anal glandsmoderately developed. Progression incompletely plan- grade. Habits chiefly terrestrial. Xotwithstandiug the remarkably peculiar outward aspect of Oulo in comparison with its allies, it is very closely related to the Martens in structure, forbidding more than generic distinc- tion from Musteltt. The dental formul. is the same. In addi- tion to the cranial characters above given, it may be stated that the sknll is relatively as well as absolutely more massive than that of the arboreal Martens, in coordination with the much more robust and sturdy organization of the Wolverene. Detailed descriptions of the skull and teeth, as well as of the external characters of the genus, are given beyond under the head of the single known species, 0. Imcus. The generic name is the Latin guh, a glutton, in allusion to the voracity of the animal. The obvious relation of the word is with the Latin gula, throat or gullet, also used figuratively for appetite or gluttony ; and in various languages the vernac- ular name of the species is a word of similar significataoo. *'6ulo~ was the original specific name in the binomial nomen- clature ; but its application to the present animal was origi- nally simply by translation into Latin of the Scandinavian and Russian vernacular (cf. anted,, p. 22). * In the pattern of coloration, however, we discern the trace of the same character that is fully developed in Mepkitia mepMtiea — the light bands, oon- vernng over the rump, being similar to the stronger white stripes which mark the Skunk. 3 M 34 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. The Wof¥ei*eiie. !J' i GuId Inscns. PLiiTB I. {A. Old World r^^fereneti.) flulo, antiquomm — "Qmn. Quad. Virlp. 1531, A-23, fig.— 01. if Off. HUt. Gent. Sept. tS55, 60S.— .i{(frot). Quad. Dig. 1645, \19.—Seh«ff. Lappon. 1673, 339.— CfcarM. Exeroit. 1677, U.-Rtaez. Hi8t. Xat. Polon. 17iSl, 218.— Xiinn. S. N. 9d-Sth eda. 1740-7, AA.—KMn, Quad. 1751, 83, pi. i.—Hm, Hlat. An. 1733, 546, pL Vl.—Jontt. Theatr. 1733, 131, pi. 57." MbsIcU ruro>rH8C«, mtdlo 4onl nlgro, L. Fn. Sueo. Ist ed. 1746, S, no. 6; S. K. 6th-7tb eda. 1748, 5, no. \.—Kram, Elenoh. Veg. et Anim. 1736, 311. MNStela galo, L. Fn. Suec. 3d ed. 1761, 5, no. 14; S. K. i. 10th ed. 1758, 45, no. 3 ; S. K. i. 13tb ed. 1766, 67, na S.-Ounn. Act. Nidioa. ill. 181, pL 3, f. i.—Houtt. Katnra. il 169, pi. 14, f. 4.— JfuU. Zool. Dan. Prod. 1776, 3, no. n.—Enl. Sy at. An. 1777, 477, no. IS.— i\ib. Fu. Grwnl. 1780, 31, no. 13. VniU gUlOt Schreh. S&og. ill.' 1778, 535, pis. 144 (Act. Holm. 1773) and 144* (Buff.).— Zimm. Geog. Gesoh. il. 1780, 376, no. 168.-Om, S. K. i. 1788, 104, no. 8.— /STAaw, O. Z. i. 1800, 460, pL 104.— I. 4T, 00. 9; I'M, Tl, no. 4 (batril on BrUton Mil Eilward*).— Ent. Syit. Anim. 1777. 167, uo. i.—Schrib. Sttog. 111. 1778, 33!).— Z— a H T Tail to end of— 9 > i2. 60 5. 00|6. 25 36.50 7.40 3.10 5.50,6.70, 31.00i7.60 13.40 13.60 Length «f- .10, 3. 00 5. 10|6. 75 2.705.15 6.50 3. 75 4. 80'6. 50 3.80 6. 10|6. 90, 39. 3517. 60 29. 00j9. 25 37. 00 a 00 34. gOd. 00 36. OOia 90 i.oo: 13. lOjj. 001175:. 15.00 5.50i6.70J. 13. 00 13.00 14.00 5.1016.50 4.40 3.00 9 2 Fresh. ...do. ...do. ...do. ...do. Dry. *From Koss. Longest hairs of body 4.00; of tail 7.50; upper canines 0.90; lower 0.75. t From Baird. Anal glands. The anal glandsof this animal are stated to be of about the size of a wainut ; the fluid yellowish-brown and of the consistency of honey. The discharge is by the usual lateral papillse within the verge of the anus. The scent is foetid in a high degree. Description of the slull and teeth. (See Plate I.) The massiveness of the skull of Gulo, iu comparison with that of Mustela, is as striking as its superiority in size. In general form, the prominent peculiarity is the strong convexity of the •uppe " outline in profile. From the highest point, just behind the orii»its, the skull slopes rapidly downward behind ; and the frontal declivity is also miich greater than iu Mmtela. There 88 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. is mnch more of a frontal concavity, and the plane of the nasal orifice is extremely oblique. The.<^ features of the profile rather suggest a Feline than a 3Insteline skull, although, of course, the resemblance is still far from complete. There is i. strong char- acter in the zygoma: in Mitstela a simple arch; here a nearly horizontal beam borne posteriorly upon an upright base, with a strongly convex backwardly projecting elbow. The same straightness requires a prominent process for definition of this part of the orbit. The zygoma is laminar and quite deep, much more so than in Mustela. Viewed from above, the zygomata are widely divergent from before backward. The anteorbital foramen is comparatively small, and appears over the fore bor- der of the sectorial tooth. Prominent characters are observed in the paroccipital and mastoid, which form great processes of abutment against the bullae, the same being only moderate in Muatela, and merely indicated in the smaller Weasels. The pal- ate is very Inroad for its length, with straight (not a little con- cave) sides ; measured across its broadest point, it forms very nearly an equilateral triangle with the sides. The posterior emarginatiou is moderate, broadly U-shaped. The bullae andi- torise are only inflated on less than the interior half, the rest being greatly contracted and drawn out into a long tubular meatus (one extreme, of which the other is seen in the slender- bodied species of Gale — compare descriptions). The basi- occipital space is somewhat wedge-shaped, owing to the diverg- ence posteriorly of the bullae. The pterygoids are very stout at base, but soon become laminar, and terminate in long, slen- der, hamnlar processes. Even in young skulls, the lambdoidal crests are as strong and flaring as in the oldest of Mustela^ and terminate in the very prominent mastoids. The occipital sur- face is considerably excavated beneath these crests; the median superior protuberance is great. The condition of the sagittal crest varies, as usual, with age. In the youngest specimens, it is single and median for but a little way, then gradually divar- icates on either hand to the supraorbital process ; in the old- est, the divarication only begins more than half-way forward, a high, thin crest occupying the rest of the median line. The general shape of the brain- box, viewed from above, is, in con- sequence of the breadth and dc;pression of the skull behind, neither the ovate nor the somewhat cylindrical, as obtains in Mtutela and Putoriiia, but rather trapezoidal, somewhat as in Taxidea. The body of the under jaw is shaped exactly as in SKULL AND TEETH OF OULO LUSCUS. 39 Mustelay tbongh it i8 more massive, but the coronoid is diflfer- ent. Its back border rises straight and perpendicularly, the anterior border carving strongly backward to meet it in a rounded obtuse apex. In Mustela, the borders gradually ap- proximate to each other and meet more acutely. M. pennanti alone is much like Gulo in this respect. Reviewing general cranial characters from the small Oale to the large GulOy we see with increase of mere size a correspond- ing increment of massiveness; a graduation in obliquity of the plane of the end of the muzzle ; a lengthening and constriction (on the whole) of the rostrum ; an increase of the convexity of the upper profile ; a depression of the zygomata from regular arches to a shape higher behind and more nearly horizontal in continuity; enlargement of paroccipitals and mastoids; con- striction and lateral elongation of the buUce into auditory tubes ; and a flattening and widening behind, and correspond- ing contraction in front of, the brain-box. The dentition shares the general massiveness of the cranium. Compared with those of Mustela, the teeth, if not relatively larger, are more swollen and stouter, with bulging sides, blunt points, and dull edges. The back upper molar is placed so far inward, out of line with the rest, that its outer border scarcely projects outside the inner border of the next. It has the same general character as in Mustela. The median constriction is slight, the inner more strongly regularly convex, with raised brim and cresceatic ridge inside this ; the outer is double con- vex (convex with an emargination), higher than the other, with an irregularly tuberculous surface. The antero-internal spur of the last premolar is low and little more than a mere heel, scarcely to be called a cusp. Turgidity aside, this tooth other- wise repeats the same in Mustela. The next premolar abuts against the reentrance between the spur and main body of the last one, rather than lies iu continuation of the same axis. The foremost premolar is relatively smaller and more crowded than the same in Mustela ; it rests directly against the canine, to the inner side of the general axis of dentition. It would seem that but little more crowding would cause this tooth to perma- nently abort. The great canines are extremely stout at the base, rather blunt, and have a strong forward obliquity. Of the six upper incisors, the lateral pair are, as usual, mueh larger (wider and deeper, though little, if any, longer) than the rest. They are usually found much abraded by rubbing 40 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. M ■ against the under canines. The other incisors are all alike, smaller and evenly set ; all show indication oftrilobation, with a large middle and minate lateral lobes, best seen from behind, where, at the pomt where the teeth flatten toward the tips, ridges divaricate, the termination of these ridges forming the lateral lobes. Tbo inferior incisors are irregularly set, the mid- dle one on each bide being crowded back ont of the general plane. The outermost pair are broader than the rest, and seem longer, viewed from the front, since moro of the tooth is exposed from the alveolus. The next, partially displaced pair, viewed from the front, seem the smallest of all ; but this is due to their position. Viewed from behind, their size is seen to be much greater than that of the middle pair. All the incisors are obscurely lobate at end. The under canines are shorter, stouter, and more curved than the upper ; most of their surface is stri- ate. The anterior lotrer premolar, like the same tooth in the upper jaw, is very small, displaced inward, and apposed against the canine. The next premolar is markedly increased in size, and set in the jaw with its longitudinal axis very oblique to the general axis of dentition, as if turned partially around for want of room. The next two premolars are much larger still and massive ; they both show a single central pointed conical cusp, whose sides are bevelled down all around to the rimmed base of the tooth, but there is no indication of the secondary cusp half- way up th<) back edge of the main cusp, as in Mmtela pennanti, martea^ americana, and perhaps all of this genus. Similarly, on the great sectorial lower molar, there is no sign of a secondary cusp on the inner face of the main cusp, as is so plainly seen in M. marte8, and which also exists in less degree in M. pennantif americana, and foina. These differences of the two back under premolars and front under molar are, perhaps, the strongest dental peculiarities of Oulo as compared with Muatela. Be- sides this, the two main cusps of the anterior lowe** premolar are snbequal in size and elevation instead of very unequal, as in Mustelttf where the hinder one is much the highest. The posterior tuberculous portion of this tooth is relatively much smaller. As in allied genera, the back lower molar 'is small, subcircular, tuberculous, not calling for special remark. In a large proportion of the skulls which come to hand, the canines and sectorial teeth are found cracked, even split en- tirely in two or broken off, apparently a result of the desperate exertions the captured animals made to free themselves from iron traps. NOMENCLATURE OP GULO LUSCUS. 41 I append measurements of a very large and another rather small American skull, with those of a specimen from Lapland. JUeasiirements of akulh, European and American. Total length from apex of intermaxillary to occipital protuberance. Greatest width (zygomatic) Diatance between orbits Nasal bones, length Fpper incisors from front to hinder margin of palate Upper molars and premolars, length taken together Lower molars and premolars, length talcen together Lower Jaw, length to back of condyle Lower Jaw, height of coronoid above condyle Greatest width of palate Least width of sknil Intermastoid width Interparoccipital width Foramen mi^num, width Width across supraorbital protuberance s ! 5.50 3.35 1.40 it. 80 1.65 1.95 .3.65 1.70 1.80 1.30 3.00 1.95 0.70 1.75 5.75 3.55 1.45 1.00 2.85 1.65 2.05 0.75 1.75 I 6.00 3.75 1.50 1.00 a 10 1.75 S.10 4.00 1.85 1.95 1.55 3.50 2.35 0.80 1.80 N03IENCLATURE OF THE SPECIES — RELATION OF THE EURO- PEAN AND AMERICAN ANIMAL. This animal has received a great variety of names, both tech- nical^and vernacular. Nearly all barbarous tribes of Northern regions in both, hemispheres, as well as civilized nations, have each bestowed some appellation ; and in some cases at least the latter have adopted an aboriginal name, with more or lesL modification, while in all cases the book-names of the species appear to be derivcvl rom the vernacular. Thus, " quickhatoh " of the English residents of British America is obviously an Anglicism of the Oree or Knisteneaux word, and I agree with Sir^^John Bichardson that carcajou of the French Canadians is probably derived from the same source. I have no idea what the meaning of the more frequent term tcolverene may be j none of its various spellings furnish a clue, beyond the obvious wolf, which is however of wholly uncertain applicability here. GulOj gluttonj glouton, are self-explaining, in allusion to the voracity of the animal ; this is also the meaning of the Swed- ish, Bussian, and German names above quoted. Oulo was adopted by Linnaeus as the specific n.ime of the European ani- mal, which he placed in the genus A.ustela. This author sepa- rated the American as Ursus luscus—Sin absurd name indeed. 42 NOBTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. '* Lascus ^ signifies blind of one eye, raope-eyed ; as is said to have been the nnfortanate condition of a specimen imported from Hudson's Bay, some time in possession of Sir Hans Sloane, and described by Edwards, upon whose account Lin- naeus based his Ursus htsciu. Linnaeus was frequently capri- cior3, and sometimes facetious, in bestowing names; while some of those he gave were wholly inappropriate. Thns the Paradisea apoda (** footless"), the common bird of Paradise, was so called for no other reason il.an that the skins imported into Europe used to lack the feet, these having been removed in the preparation of the specimens by the natives. This tax- idermal accident not only gave rise to the name, but to the general belief that the bird had no feet, and to various fabu- lous accounts of its hal'.o as a consequence of such condition. It is deplorable that an accidental deformity of one particular individual should be thus perpetuated as the designation of a species ; the more so, as it is the name which, according to strict rules of nomenclature, must prevail. It may, however, be fairly questioned whether it should not be sot aside, under the accepted ruling that priority shall not be entitled to prece- dence when the first name involves a palpable error, or is wholly inept, as in the present instance. The specific term gulo being used for the genus, the name borealis would come next in order, should Imcus be ignored on these considerations. The foregoing synonymatic lists show that this species has not escaped subdivision into nominal ones, and that varieties have been genen^lly recognized. But the close similarity of the animals from the two continents did not escape some of the earlier writers, among them even those of slight scientific acquirements or experience. Thus Shaw, in 1800, states of the Wolverene, of which he reproduces Edwards's figure, that " this appears to be no other than a variety " of Ursua gulo. Des- marest allowed varietal distinction from the animal be called G. arcticus. Cuvier endorsed the specific validity which earlier writers had generally admitted ; this error Griffith perpetuated, and, calling one Oulo vulgariSj the other G. wolverene^ introduced at once two new synonyms. At least, if these names did not originate with him, I have not found them in previous works. A certain '* Gulo leucurus Hedenborg", quoted by Gray, I have not had an opportunity of verifying. In the foregoing syn- onymy I separate the American from the Old World quota- tions merely for the convenience of reference, and must not be HISTORY AND HABITS OP THE WOLVERENE. 43 nnderstood as implying that any distinction, varietal or spe- cific, subsists between the Glutton and the Wolverene. In comparing numerous American skulls with one from Lap- land, I detect in the former a tendency to less constriction of the cranium behind the postorbital processes. This is an in- teresting correlation with one of the more pronounced differ- ences in the skulls of M. martes and M. amerioana. But this is the only discrepancy I find, and it is not, moreover, uni- formly exhibited to any appreciable degree. The identity of the animals of the two continents is to be considered fairly es- tablished, whatever range of variation in size and color either may present. Pallas notes a curious supposed character in urging a criti- cal comparison of the two forms. " Pilos Guloni esse trique- tros notavit Baster (Act. Harlemens. vol. xv.) sed hoc an in Americano ? nostrati pili teretes ", he says, on p. 75 of the " Zoographia ". HISTOEY AND HABITS OF THE SPECIES. The written history of the Glutton or Wolverene dates firom an early period in the sixteenth century, when the animal is mentioned with little interval oi time by several writers in much the same extravagant terms. The first appearance of the ani- mal Ie Mterature ie said by von Martens to have been in 1532, at the hands of M chow, a physician of Cracow, in the work De Sarmatia AsiatM, ei Europcea, Olans Magnus (1562), to whom is commonly attri mted the earliest mention, though he thus appears to h''.ve bsen anticipated, gives a most extraordinary account, mad'^ up of the then current popular traditions and superstitions, and tales of hunters or travellers, unchecked by any proper scientific enquiry; although, to do him justice, he does not entirely credit them himself. We may be sure that such savory morsels of animal biography did uot escape the notice of subsequent compilers, and that they lost nothing of their flavor at the hands of the versatile and vivacious Bu£fon. Endorsed for two centuries by various writers, each more or less authoritative in his own times, and, moreover, appealing strongly to the popular love of ^he marvellous, the current fables took strong root and grew ape v^, flourishing like all <* ill weeds", and choking sober accounts. Ooming down to us through such a long line of illustrious godfathers, they were treated with the respect generally accorded to long years, and furnished the m 44 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. staple of professedly educational text-books. Probably no yoath's early conceptions of the Glutton were uncolored with romance ; the general picture impressed upon the susceptible mind of that period bein/| that of a ravenous monster of insa- tiate voracity, maichles& strength, and supernatural cunning, a terror to all other beasts, the bloodthirsty master of the forest. We cannot wonder at the quality of the stream, when we turn to the fonntain-head of such gross exaggeration. We find it gravely stated that this brute will feast upon the carcase of some large animal until its belly is swollen as tight as a drum, and then get rid of its burden by squeezing itself between two trees, in order that it may return to glut itself anew — an alleged climax of gluttony to which no four-footed beast attains, and for the parallel of which we must refer to some of the most noted gormandizers of the Boman Empire. We have indeed reliable accounts of such gastronomic exploits, but they are not a part of those records which are generally accepted as zoological. In one of the old zoological works of some celeb- rity, there is a very droll picture of a Wolrarene squeezing itself between two trees, with a most anxious expression of countenance, the fore part of the body being pressed thin, while the hinder is, still distended, and the large pil oof manure already deposited being rapidly augmented with further supplies. Still in the track of the marvellous, we read how the Glutton, too damsy and tardy of foot to overtake large Buuiinants, betakes itself to the trees beneath which they may pass, and there 'Crouches in wait for its victim ; it drops lik9 a shot upon the unsuspecting Elk, Moose, Beindeer, and, faatening with claws and teeth, sucks the blood and destroys them as they run. That nothing may be left undone to ensure success, the animal has the wit to throw down moss or lichens to attract its prey, and to employ the friendly services of Foxes to drive the quarry beneath the fatal spot. I allude to these things, not that such gross exaggerations longer require refutation, but because they are a part, and no inconsiderable one, of the history of the species ; and because, as we shall see in the sequel, a perfectly temperate and truthful narration of the creature's actual habits sufficiently attests the possession of really remarkable qualities, which need be but caricatured for transformation into just such fables. We may remember, also, that the history of the Wol- verene is mixed in some cases with that of other animals, some of whose habits have been attributed to it. Thus Charlevoix HISTORY iND HABITS OP THE WOLVERENE. 45^ (Voy. Amer. i, 201) speaks of the "carcf^oa or qaino^oa, a kind of cat", evidently, however, having the Goagar (FelU con- color) in view, as appears firom the rest of his remarks. Sach habit of lying in wait for their prey is common to the Coagar, Lynx, and other large Oats. Not to prolong this portion of the subject, I may state briefly, that the animal whose oharaoteris- tics will be ftally exposed in the course of this article is simply an uncommonly large, clumsy, shaggy Marten or Weasel, of great strength, without corresponding agility, highly carnivorous, like the rest of its tribe, and displaying great perseverance and sagacity in procuring food in its northern residence when the- supply is limited or precarious, often making long uninterrupted journeys, although so short-legged. It is imperfectly planti- grade, and does not dimb trees like most of its allies. It lives in dens or burrows, and does not hibernate. It fSeeds upon the- carcases of large animals which it finds already slain, but does not destroy such creatures itself, its ordinary prey being of a much humbler character. It is a notorious thief; not only of stores of meat and fish laid up by the natives of the countries it inhabits, the baits of their traps, and the animals so caught, but also of articles of no possible service to itself; and avoids with most admirable cunning the various meth'^ds devised for its destruction in retaliation. . All the earlier accounts referred to the animal of Europe and Asia. I have not found the terms " Carcajou " and " Wolverene ", nor any allusion to the Ainerican form, until early in the eight- eenth century. La Honti^n speaks of it in 1703, likening it to a large fierce Badger; Lawson has been quoted in this connec- tion, he having attributed to the Lynx some of the f>:>!:Ioua accounts of the Glutton ; but it is evident that his remarks neither apply, nor were intended to apply, to the Wolverene. Gatesby sp<»gth ose." Richardson discredits the accounts which had HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE WOLVERENE. 47> eome down from Buffoo of the destruction of Beavers by the Wolrerene. ♦' It must be only in summer, " he says, " when those industrious animals are at work on laud, that it can sur- prise them. An attempt to break open their house in winter, even supposing it possible for the claws of a Wolverene to pene- etrate the thick mud walls when frozen as hard as stone, would only have the effect of driving the beavers into the water to seek for shelter in their vaults on the borders of the dam."» Hearne gives a much more credible account of the depre- dations of the Wolverene upon another of the valuable fur- bearing animals of the north— the Fox— during the period of reproduction. Being directed by scent to the burrow of the Fox, which its great strength enables it to enlarge if necessary, it enters and destroys the whole family. In evi- dence of its amazing strength, of that sort most effective in palling, pushing, and prying, the same author mentions that a Wolverene had been known to upset the greater part of a pile of wood nearly seventy yards around, in order to get at some provisions which had been deposited in this c&che. Audubon's article, although entertaining and accurate, is chiefly a com- pilation from previous accounts, as he appears to have met with the animal iu a state of nature but once, the result of which occurrence is bis principal contribution to the subject. This was in Rensselaer County, near the banks of the Hoosac River. He tracked a Wolverene iu the snow to its den, which was among rocks, and shot it after prying away some heavy firag- ments. '' There was a large nest of dried leaves in the cavern, which had evidently been a place of resort for the Wolverene during the whole winter, as its tracks from every direction led to the spot. It had laid up no winter store, and evidently depended on its nightly excursions for a supply of food. It had however fared well, for it was very fat." The fur of the Wolverene is highly valued both by civilized and uncivilized people. A number of skins sewn together makes a very beautiful carriage robe or hearth-rug, and the pelts are in common use for these purposes. The Indians and Esqui- * An anonymoas writer, doubtless General D. S. Stanley (" D. S. 8., Fort Sally, Dakota " ; American Naturalist, ii, 1868, p. 215), notes the depr dations committed by the Wolverene upon Beaver, in the following terms : — "The wolverene follows the Beaver and preys upon them; in northern latitudes, the wolverene is almost always present where the beaver is abundant. The beaver has a beaten path on the bank of the stream near his lodge. There the wolverene lies in wait for him, and often cuts short his career." 4t NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIU^E. manz use the far as they do that of the Wolf, for friogiug their garments, the skin being cut in strips for this purpose. I have already given (p. 2) some statistics of the trade in this kind of pelt, which indicate the comparative standing of the animal among the fur-bearing species of this country. The following methods of its capture are taken firom Qibson : — * an animal of circumpolar distribution in both hemispheres. In North America, it exists in all suitable comtry north of the United States to the Arctic Ooast, and even on some of the islands of the Polar Sea, traces of itS' presence having been discovered on Melville Island, about latitude 75^. Our notes upon its distribution in this country may relate chiefly to its southern limits. Of an erroneous quo- tation, by which it has been supposed to occur as far south as Carolina, I have already spoken. Its southern limit has been fixed more properly between 42^ and 43°; this is probably nearly correct for the eastern portions of the continent, aside from what recession of the species northward may have re- cently occurred, although, as we shall see, the species reaches * Complete Amerioan Trapper, [etc.] p. 200. New York. 16mo. 1876. t A statement at Tariaoce with the experience of others, as detailed on a following page, from which it would appear that the wary creature is par- ticularly difficult to entrap. HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE WOLVERENE. 41 fartber soath In the West. lu Massachusetts, accordiuR to Mr. Alleo, It still Uogered a few years since, in that portion where the Canadian, as distinguished from the Alleghanian, fauna is represented. But the Massacliusetts reports are all probably traceable to a Hoosac Mountain reconl some years prior. Dr. Hitchcock and Dr. De Kay both quote Dr. Emmons for this, although the species is not given in the latter's report. In New York, it was rare In the time of Audubon and De Kay : the former notes specimens from Rensselaer (1810) and Jefferson (1827) Counties. Dr. Z. Thompson, writing in 1833, states that it was then extremely rare in Vermont, none having been met with to his knowledge for several years. Though occasionally found when the country was new in all parts of the State, it was never very plentiful, and for years had been known only in the most wooded and unsettled parts. I have met with but one record of its presence in the United States from west of New York to the Rocky Mountains, though it is to be pre* sumed that it inhabits, or has lately done so, the wooded por- tions of our northern frontier. Maximilian speaks ({. o.) of the occurrence of the species o j the western border of Canada and near the month of the Red River of the North, and surmises that the species may extend to the Missouri River, especially as he saw a skin, but without indication of locality, at one of the trading posts. I never saw the Wolverene in Dakota or Montana, where most of the country is altogether too open. Baird, oowever, speaks of its occasional occurrence in the Black Hills, and registers a specimen from " northwest of Fort Union"* (probably Montana, toward the base of the Rocky Mountains); and Mr. C. H. Merriam (as recorded I. s. c.) procured a speci- men on the Yellowstone River, Wyoming, in August, 1872. In the Rocky Mountains, as was to have been expected, its extension southward has been traced to the farthest known point, between 40^ and 39<^. Professor Baird notes a specimen obtained by Captain Stansbury from the Great Salt Lake, Utah, which lies wholly south of 42o. This individual is still (1877) pre- served, mounted, in the National Museum. It is probable that its extreme limit is even somewhat farther than this, reaching in the mountains to the borders of Arizona and New Mexico and "This locality (Fort UDion), frequently mentioned in the works of An- dabon, Baird, and others, no longer exists as snob, being now a heap of rob- bisb. It is replaced by Fort Buford, commanding the mouth of the Yellow- stone, at the extreme southwest corner of Dakota, acyoining the southeast corner of Montana. 4M '■' I if!'' ■IS '■ ■■ 60 NOBTH AMERICAN MUSTEUD^. corresi)onding latitudes in California. Of this, I was assured by hunters whose statemeLts I had no reason to doubt, and who were evidently acquainted with the species. But I could not confirm their statements by actual observation, and, for all that is positively known, the Salt Lake record remains the southernmost, excepting that very recently furnished by Mr. Allen {(^. cit). He saw the skin of an individual taken in the vicinity of Montgomery, Colo., near the limit of timber, and the animal was stated to be not uncommon. This locality is somewhat south of 40<^, and the occurrence is strongly corroborative of the accounts I received, as just mentioned. I have myself lately seen a mounted specimen among a collec- tion of animals made by Mrs. M. A. Maxwell, in the vicinity of Boulder, Colo. I have no record from the region west of the main chain of the Bockies in Oregon or Washington Territory, although it is not to l>b presumed, upon this negative evidence, that the species does not occur there. The Wolverene ranges, as we have seen, in greater or less abundance, all over the northern portions of this country. It appears to be particularly numerous in the Mackenzie Biver region, and it fairly infests the whole country bordering the lower portions of this river and the west side of the mountains. From this country, many accounts have reached me, from vari- onr cflBcers of the Hudson's Bay Company, through the liber- al* ~ of the Smithsonian Institution, which placed in my hands all tbe matter represented in its archives upon the mammals of the far north. These manuscripts witness the wonderful cun- ning and sagacity of the beast, as well as its ferocity, and repre- sent it to be the greatest enemy with which the hunters and trappers have to contend in the pursuit of fur-bearing animals. Messrs. Kennicott, Macfarlane, Boss, and Lockhart have each recorded their experiences, which together afford the material for a complete biography. The hunter, says Mr. Lockhart, may safely leave an animal he has kiPM for one night, but never for a second time, with- out placing i '. in a strong c^he of logs. The first night the Wolverene is pretty sure to visit the place, but will touch nothing. The next night he is certain to return, and, if he can possibly get at the meat, he will gorge himself, and then make away with the rest, which he cunningly hides, piece by piece, under the snow, in different directions. At every c^he he makes he voids his urine or drops his dirt, probably to prevent HISTORY AND HABITS OP THE WOLVERENE. 51 Foxes, Martens, or other animals from smelling the hidden meat and uigging it np. Gd.chcs must be made of green wood, and be exceedingly strong, or the animal will certainly break into them. He has been known to gnaw through a log nearly a foot in diameter, and also to dig a hole several feet deep in frozen ground, to gain access to the coveted supply. Should he succeed in gaining entrance for himself, and yet be unable to displace the logs sufSciently to permit of removal of the meat, the brute will make water and dirt all over it, rendering it wholly unfit to be used; even a dog will then scarcely touch it. To the trapper, the Wolverenes are equally annoying. Wi!<»n they have discovered a line of Marten traps, they will ?»orc3 and cftche them. If hungry, they may devour two or three of the Martens they find captured, the remainder being carried ofi and hidden in the snow at a considerable distance. The work of demoli- tion goes on as. fast as the traps can be renewed. The propensity to steal p.ad hide things is one of the strongest traits of the Wolverene. Vo such an extent is it developed that the animal will often secrete articles of no possible use to itself. Besides the wanton destruction of Marten traps, it will carry off the sticks and hide them at a distance, apparently in sheer malice. Mr. Boss, in the article above quoted, has given an amusing instance of the extreme of this propensity: — "The desire for accumulating property seems so doeply implanted in this animal, that like tame ravens, it does not appear to care much what it steals so that it car^ exercise its favorite propen- sity to rx>mmit mischief. An instance occurred within my own knowledge in which a hunter and his family having left their lodge unguarded during their absence, on their return found it com\A^tely gcitted— the walls were there but nothing else. Blankets, guns, kettles, axes, cans, knives and all the other paraphernalia of a trapper's tent had vanished, and the tracks left by the bea#; snowed who had been the thief. The family set to work, and by carefully following up all his paths recov- ered, with some trilling exceptions, the whole of the lost prop- erty." Though very clumsy animais, the Wolverenes manage to cap- 1 1<1 'ilf. l! 52 NORTH AMERICAN HUSTELIDiE. tare, at times, such prey as Hares or Groase, and they successfully attack disabled Deer. We have already seeu how they destroy Foxes in their burrows; and they are usually found in excel- lent oonditioD. They also feed on offal or carrion ; in fact, any- thing that they can catch or steal. Their own flesh is only eatable in the extreme of starvation. They bring forth in bur- rows under ground, probably old Bear washes, and have four or five young at a birth. It is very rarely that they are discov- ered at this period oc whilst suckling their young. One rea- son, however, may be that they reproduce late in June and early in July, wheu the mosquitoes are so numerous that no one who can avoid it goes abroad in the woods. Tbe rutting season is in the latter part of March. The femais is ferocious in the defeose of her youn^*, and if difiturbed at this time will not hesitate to attack a mau. Indeed, Indians have been heard to aver that they would sooner encounter a she-bear with her cubs than a Oarcajou under the same circumstances. In Octo- ber, when the rivers set fast, the Wolverenes reappear in fam- Ses, the young still following their dam, though now not much her inferior in size. They are full grown when about a year old. In early infancy, the cubs are said to be of a pale cream calor. The Wolverene may be captured in wooden traps similar to those used for JNIarteus, but of course made on a much larger scate, as the animaVs strength is enormous, even for its size. The traps are sometimes built with two doors. But so great is the cunning and sagacity of the beast, that the contrivance for its destruction must be very perfect. The traps are covered up with pine-brush, and made to resemble a c^he as much as possible ; the Wolverene is then likely to break in and get caught. The bait, ordinarily the conspicuous feature of a trap, must iu this instance be concealed, or the animal will either faxeak in from behind, or, failing in this, will pass on his way. It is sometimes also taken in steel traps, or by means of a set gun ; but both these methods are uncertain, great " medicine '' being required to outwit the knowing and suspicious beast. The eyesight of the Wolverene is not very bright, but his sense of smell is extremely acute. "The winter I passed at Fort Simpson", writ^ Mr. Lock- hart, '' I had a line of Marten and Fox traps, and Lynx snares, extending as far as Lac de Brochet. Visiting them on one occasion I found a Lynx alive in one of my snares ; and being HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE WOLVERENE. 53 indisposed to carry it so far home, determined to kill and skin it before it should freeze. But how to cache the skin till my return ? This was a serious question, for Carcajou tracks were numerous. Placing the carcase as a decoy in a clump of willows at one side of the path, I went some distance on the opposite side, dug a hole with my snow-shoe about three feet deep in the snow, packed the skin in the smallest possible compass, and put it in the bottom of the hole, which I filled up again very carefully, packing the snow down hard, and then strewing loose snow over the surface till the spot looked as if it had never been disturbed. I also strewed blood and entrails in the path and around the willows. Beturning next morning, I found that the carcase was gone, as I expected it would be, but that the place where the skin was cached was apparently undis- turbed. 'Ah! you rascal,' said I, addressing aloud the absent Carcajou, ' I have outwitted you for once.' I lighted my pipe, and proceeded leisurely to dig up the skin to place in my mnski- moot. I went clear down to the ground, on this side and on that, but no Lynx skin was there. The Carc^ou had been before me, and had carried it off along with the carcase ; but he bad taken the pains to fill up the hole again and make every- thing as smooth as before ! " At Peel's River, on one occasion, a very old Carcajou dis- covered my Marten road, on which I had nearly a hundred and fifty traps. I was in the habit of visiting the line about once a fortnight ; but the beast fell into the way of coming oftener than I did, to my great annoyance and vexation. I determined to put a stop to his thieving and his life together, cost what it might. So I made six strong traps at as many different points, an nlso set three steel traps. For three weeks I tried my best to caiou the beast without success ; and my worst enemy would allow that I am no green hand in these matters. The animal carefully avoided the traps set for his own benefit, and seemed to be taking !■«« delight than ever in demolishing my Marten traps and CAiing the Martens, scattering the pdes in every direction, and caching what baits or Martens he did not devour on the spot. As v>e had no poison in those days, I next set a gun on the iMHik of a little lake. The gun was concealed in some low bushea. hoc the bait was so placed that the Carcajou must see it on his way up the i>ank. I blockaded my path to the gun with a small pine tree which completely hid it. On my first visit afterward I found that the beast had gone up to I n v.\ 1 :' ■i * ' It'' m III i 54 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^E. the bait and smelled it, but had left it antoached. He had next pulled up the pine tree that blocked the path, and gone around the gun and cut the line which connected the bait with the trigger, just behind the muzzle. Then he had gone back and pulled the bait away, and carried it out on the lake, where he laid down and devoured it at his leisure. There I found my string. I could scarcely believe that all this had been done designedly, for it seemed that faculties fully on a par with human reason would be required for such an exploit, if done intention- ally. I therefore rearranged things, tying the string where it had been bitten. But the result was exactly the same for three successive occasions, as I could plainly see by the footprints ; and what is most singular of all, each time the brute was care- ful to cut the line a little back of where it had been tied before, as if actually reasoning with himself that even the knots might be some new device of mine, and therefore a source of hidden danger he would prudently avoid. I came to the con- clusion that that Carcajou ought to live, as he must be something at least human, if not worse. I gave it up, and abandoned the road for a period. '^On another occasion a Carcajou amused himself, much as usnal, by tracking my line from one end to the other and de- molishing my traps, as fast as I could set them. I put a large steel trap in the middle of a path that branched off among some willows, spreading no bait, but risking the chance that the animal would ' put bis foot in it' on his way to break a trap at the end of the path. On my next visit I found that the trap was gone, but I noticed the blood and entrails of a hare that had evidently been caught in the trap and devoured by the Careajon oii the spot. Examining his footprints I was satisfied that iie had not been caught, and I took up his trail. Proceed- ing about a miie through the woods I came to a small lake, on the banki of which I recognized traces of the trap, which the beast bad laid down in order to go a few steps to one side to make water on a stump. He had then returned and picked up the trap, which he had carried across the lake, with many a twist and turn on the hard crust of snow to mislead his ex- pected pursuer, and then again entered the woods. I followed for about half a mile farther and then came to a large hole dug in the snow. This place, however, seemed not to have suited him, for there was nothing there. A few yards farther on, however, I found a neatly built mound of snow on which the H ) j: 1 i i 1 III * HISTORY AND F\BITS OP THE WOLVERENE. 55 animal had made water and left his dirt ; this I knew was hia cache. Using one of my snowshoes for a spade I dug into the hillock and down to the ground, the snow being about four feet deep ; and there I found my trap, with the toes of a rabbit still in the jaws. Could it have been the animal's instinctive im- pulse to hide prey that made him carry my trap so far merely for the morsel of meat still held in it ? Or did his cunning nature prompt him to hide the trap for fear that on some future unlucky occasion he might put his own toes in it and share the rabbit's fate ? " This propensity of the Wolverene to carry off traps receives confirmation from other sources. In Captain Cartwright's Journal (ii, 407), a similar instance is recorded in the follow- ing terms :— " In coming to the foot of Table Hill I crossed the track of a Wolvering with one of Mr. Callingham's traps on his foot : the foxes had followed his bleeding track. As this beast went through the thick of the woods, under the north side of the hill, where the snow was so deep and light that it was with the greatest difficulty I could follow him even on In- dian rackets, I was quite puzzled to know how he had con- trived to prevent the trap from catching hold of the branches of trees or sinking in the snow. But on coming up with him I discovered how he had managed : tor after making an attempt to fly at me, he took the trap in his mouth and ran upon three legs. These creatures are surprisingly strong in proportion to their size ; this one weighed only twenty-six pounds and the trap eight ; yet including all the turns he had taken he had carried it six miies." The ferocity of the Wolverene, no less than its cunning, is illustrated in some of the endless occasions on which it matches its powers against those of its worst enemy. A man had set a gun for a Carcajou which had been on his usual round of dem- olition of Marten traps. The animal seized the bait unwarily, and set off the gun ; but owing to careless or improper setting, the charge missed or only wounded it. The Carcajou rushed upon the weapon, tore it from its fastenings, and chewed the stock to pieces. It is added to the account of this exploit that the beast finished by planting the barrel muzzle downward up- right in the snow ; but this may not be fully credited. The stories that pass current among trappers in the North would alone fill a volume, and they are quite a match for those that Glaus Magnus set down in his book centuries ago. How much 56 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. r t wiser are we in our geDeration ? Is there anything new under the san T But we need not go beyond the strict fact to be impressed with the extraordinary wit of the beast, whom all concur in conceding to be " as cunning as the very devil ". With so much for the tricks and the manners of the beast behind our backs, roaming at will in his vast solitudes, what of his actions in the presence of man T It is said that if one only stands still, even in full view of an approaching Carcajou, he will come within fifty or sixty yards, provided he be to wind- ward, before he takes the alarm. Even then, if he be not warned by sense of smell, he seems in doubt, and will gaze earnestly several times before he finally concludes to take him- self ofi; On these and similar occasions he has a singular habit— one not shared, so far as I am aware, by any other beast whatever. He sits on his haunches and shades his eyes with one of his fore paws, just as a human being would do in scruti- nizing a dim or distant object. The Carcajou then, in addition to his other and varied accomplishments, is a perfect skeptic — to use this word in its original signification. A skeptic, with the Greeks, was simply one who would shade his eyes to see more clearly. To this day, in sign-language among some of the North American Indians, placing the hand to the forehead sig- nifies " white man " — either in allusion to this habit, or to the shade given the eyes by the straight vizor of the military cap, which the Indians see oftener than they desire. Mr. Lockhart writes that he has twice been eye-witness of this curious habit of the Wolverene. Once, as he was drifting down stream in a small canoe, he came within a short distance of one of the ani- mals on the bank ; it stopped on perceiving him, squatted on its haunches, and peered earnestly at the advancing boat, hold- ing one fore paw over its eyes in the manner described. TSot seeming to take alarm, it proceeded on a few paces, and then stopped to repeat the performance, when Mr. Lockhart, now suf&ciently near, fired and killed the beast. On another occa- sion, when the same gentleman was crossing the Rocky Mount- ains, a Wolverene, which had become alarmed and was making off, stopped frequently and put up his paw in the same manner^ in order to see more clearly the nature of that which had dis- turbed him. On other occanions, the Wolverene displays more boldness than this in the presence of man. It has been known to seize upon the carcase of a deer, and saffer itself to be shot rather ITS DISTRIBUTION IN THE OLD WORLD. 57 than relinquish possession, though the hunter had approached vithin twenty yards of his game. When pressed by the pangs of hunger, still bolder exploits are sometimes performed, as in the instance narrated by Capt. J. C. Ross. In the dead of an Arctic winter, his ship's company were surprised by a visit from a Wolverene, which clambered over the snow wall sur- rounding the vessel, and came boldly on deck among the men. Forgetful of its safety in the extremity of its need for food, the animal seized a canister of meat, and suffered himself ta be noosed while eating. DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIBS IN THE OLD WORLD. This portion of the subject is translated from J. F. Brandt's elaborate article.* According to Georgi (?. ». c. [i. e. Geogr. Phys. Beschr. 1786) p. 1547), the Glutton is found in the temperate, and particu- larly in the cold regions of Bussia and Siberia ; that is to say, from Lithuania and Gurland, where, however, it is rare, to Finland, Eola, Archangel, Wologda, Perm; and in Siberia, from the mountains which bound this country (the Altai, the Sajan, and Danrian Alps, the Stannovoi, &c.), to the Arctic Tundras. Brincken (Mem. sur la For^t de Bidlowicza, p. 45) speaks of Gluttons in the forest of Bidlowicza. Eichwald, however, two years later (1830), states that formerly they were only found in some few forests of Podolia and Pinsk (Skizze, p. 237). In 1791, Fischer says (Naturgesch. von Li viand, Livonia, 2d edition, p. 141) that the Glutton was already rare in Livonia, though still common in Bussia, Poland, Lithuania, and Lapland, as well as in Gurland; though in Derschaa and von Eeyserling's description of the Province of Gur- land, published as early as 1805, the Glutton is not mentioned among the animals of Gurland, and it is likewise wanting in Lichtenstein's Catalogue of the Mammals of Gnrland, published in 1829 (Bull. Nat. Hist. Moscou). Eessler only mentions the Glutton incidentally, stating that there were reports of its casual appearance, and that a specimen was once captured, though giving no particulars. According to Bczaczynski (Anctnar. Hist. Nat. p. 311), two Glut- tons were killed in Podolia at the beginning of the last century. It is, therefore, unquestionable that the Glutton * Bemerknogen ttber die Wirbelthiere des nordlichen earopaischea Rasa- lands, besonders des nordlichen Ural's. Ein Beitrag zur nuheren zoolo- gisch-geographischen Kenntniss Nordost-Europa's. I ! til 58 NOBTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. was occasionally found in Gurland, Litliuania, and Podolia dnring the last centary, but that it no longer extends so far westward and southward, so that we may rely, concern- ing its appearance in Russia, upon the statement of Pallas .PekaalB« J. E. Oray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1865, 107. (Type M. pennanti.) > Foiiai J. E. Oray, Proo. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1865, 107. (Type If. martt* var. fagontm.) > CfearrOBia, J. E. Gray, Proo. Zoiil. Soo. 1865, 108. (Type M. flavigula Bodd.) Generic chars. — Dental formula : 18 3-3 . 3-3 ' 1-1 t P™'4_4> m. 1-1 2-2 2^= 38 (as in OuJo; one more premolar,* a'oove and below, on each side, than in Putoriua). Sectorial tooth of lower jaw usually with an internal cusp. Anteorbital foramen presenting vertically or somewhat downward as well as forward (as in Putorius ; reverse of Gulo) ; canal-like, opening over interspace between last and penultimate premolars (as in Gulo ; the open- ing is over the last premolar in Putoriua). Skull much constrioted at the middle, the rostral portion relatively longer, mure tapering than in Gulo or " As a not infrequent anomaly, the small anterior premolar which consti- tutes the increment in the dental formula as compared with that of PutoriuB fails to develop. Thus it 'is wanting on the right side above in a skull, No. 7159, from Fort Good Hope, though present on the lelv side and on both sides below. Similarly, an incisor occasionally aborts. I , •<* 60 NORTH AMERICAN MUST£LID^. 1'^ n ii^" Putoriu "'1 much more obliciuely truncated flian in Putoriui, lew ao tban in Oulo \ 'ital prufile more or less concave. Nasal bunos narrower in tbe middle than at either end. General upper outline of skull moderately arched. Production of mastoids and auditors l>all(e and fjeneral prominence of periotio region intermediate between Oulo and Putorius. Zygomatic arch high behind (usually higher than in front) ; nowhere vertical, nor developing a posterior convexity. Depth of emarginution of palate greater than dis* tanoe thence to the molars. Skull as a whole less uussive than iu either Gulo or Putoriut. Vertebral formula. — According to Oerrard, the vertebrie of M. tnartes, type of the genus, is c. 7, d. 16, 1. *>, a. 'A, cd. 18 or 19 ; other species of the genus differ in tbe number of caudals. Size medium and large for this subfamily. Form moderately stoat ; claws strong, cnrved, acute. Tail longer tban tbe bead, bushy, cylindrical or taper- ing. Soles dbS«Hl7 furry, with nuked pads. Pelage long and soft, but not fibaggy ; whol«3-colored, or nearly so, never whitening in winter. Progression digitigrade. Habits highly arboreal as well as terrestrial ; not aqoatio. This fcenuB forms the liuk between Gulo and PutoritM, as will be evident upon comparison of tlu- diagnoses of the three. Tbe ski 11, however, is lighter than in either of the two other genera of Mu8telin(B, with more produced aud tapering rostrum ; in height, relative to length or breadth, it is intermediate. The spt di have a somewhat Fox like or Cat-like superficial aspect, rather than that appearance we usually associate with the name of " WeaseF, being much stouter-bodied, more copiously haired, and bushier-tailed ; one species, indeed, is commonly called black " fox " or black " cat ". They appear to be more decid- edly arboreal than the Weasels, spendiug much of their time in trees, and are not aquatic, like several of the Weasels propei*. They are agile and graceful iu their movements ; and, if not really more active than the Weasels, their actions seem to possess a quality of lightness and elasticity different from the writhiop' and insiuuative motions of the very slender-bodied, short-. ■ "r .j. Weasels. Although strictly carnivorous, predacious, and de- structive to many kinds of small Mammals and Birds, they appearless ferocious and bloodthirsty than the Weasels, whose sanguinary impulses seem insatiable ; and at times they exhibit a playful and comparatively amiable disposition. The name of tbe genus is the Latin mustela or miutella, a kind of Weasel ; the word being apparently derived from, or related to, the more general term mtis.* Its adjectival deriva- * This seems to have inolnded, besides Mice, various kinds of small de- structive animals, snob as now might be collectively referred to aa " vermin". Thns, mutpontiouB is supposed to have probably been an Ermine. The word may be simply a long form of maa, like maxilla or axilla from mala and ala. THE QENU8 MU8TELA. 11 tive, mu8telinu», refers primarily to general Wea«el-!ike quali- ties ; secondarily, to tbn peouliar tawny color of moat species of Weasels in sammer, and is* transferable to other animals, just as "foxy" signifies the peenliur red of the Oommou Pox. For Au example, familiar to ornithologists, the "tawny" thrush of Wilson, Tardus ^^ mustelinu*^, may be cited. This genns comprises the Martens and Sables, of which there are several species, inhabiting the northern portions of both Old and New Worlds, and particularly abundant in the higher latitudes. Aside from the very distinct Fisher, or Pekan, Mua- tela pennanti, peculiar to North America, the species are so closely related that some authors have contended for their identity. There appear, however, to be good grounds upon which at least three if not four si ecies may be established; one confined to America, the rest belonging to the Old World. The high commercial value of the pelts of these animals, and their corresponding economic importance, has sharpened the eyes of those pecuniarily interested to such degree that nu- merous kinds of "sable" and "marten'* are recognized by the furriers; and the caprices of imperious fashion set a wholly fictitious value upon slight shades of color or other variable conditions of pelage, which have no zoological signiflcanee whatever. The Sable par excellence is the Russian and Asiatic animal, Mustela zibellina, a variety of the common European Marten, M. niartes, or a closely allied species; but, as all Sables are Martens, it is perfectly proper to speak of our species, M. americanttf as the American Sable or Marten. Some of its for- tuitous conditions of pelage — the darker shades — represent the " sable " of furriers, while in the ordinary coloration it may be called by another name. The meanings of the various terms employed to designate animals of this genus are more fully discussed elsewhere, under heads of the several species. The two North American species of Mustela may be readily distinguished by the followiujj characters : — Analysis of tfie Is'orth American species of Mustela. Xiarger : length two feet or more ; tail a foot or more, the vurtebree about half the length of head and body, tapering from base to point. Bars low, wide, aemicircolar. Blackish ; lighter on fore apper parts and head ; darkest below ; no light throat-patch M. pennanU. Smaller : length under two feet ; tail less than a foot long, the vertebne leas than half the length of the body, uniformly bushy. Ears high, subtrian- gnlar. Brown, &c.; not darker below than above ; usually a large ydlow- ish or tavroy throat-patch M. amerioana. 'I li: i .' 1 ! ■ '1 }■"'' ll ',1 ■ 1 1 1 Plil 62 NORTH AMERICAN MUHTELID^. t The Peknn, or Peniinnrii Garten. Mnstcla pemaantli Plati II. MasleU poaiMlllt Era. Sy«t. A.d. 1777, 470, DO. 10 (bailed on the FUher of P»nnant: for dUouMlon of nam*, in nrioiity over eanadtiudi Scbreber, o£ Bd. op. ityfrA eit. p. liD.—Zimm. Qeo^. Oeich. 11. 1760, 310, no. 908.— J. Sab. Frank. Joam. 1633, esi.-fifri/. Cut. R. A. t. 1837, 133. no, 354.-£««t. Man. 1837, 190, no. iOi—rUeh. Syn. Mam. 1839, 317.— Oodm. Am. K. H. i. 1831, W3.-Bd. M. X. A. 18ST, 14B, pi. 36, f. 1.- Xtwb. P. R. R. Rep. ▼!. 1857, 41.-0oop. <« SueU. N. H. W. T. 18W, 99, 114.-Am«, Canid. Nat. tI. 1881, ii.—Oilpin, Tr. Nov. Soot. lout. 11. 1870, 0, 59.— AU. Ball. M.C. Z. 1. 1869, 161 (Mats.) I BalL £h. Init. vl. 1874, 54 (Colorado^. —AmM, BaU. Minn. Acad. Xat. Sol. 1874, 69. Manes fCBRUdli ^«V< P- Z. S. leeS, 107; cat Carnlv. Br. Mas. 1869, 8S. Mrntela raaadeasll, Sehr«b. Stfng. ill. 1778, ''.99, pi. 134 (bated on the P*ktm of Bnltot not M. i;atKuUmii of Erxl., which is Putoriut oUon).—Zimm. Qeog. Oesob. IL 1780, 309, no. WJ—Bodd. Elench. An. 1. 1784, 86.— Om. S. N. 1. 1788, 05.— Titrt. S. K. i. 1606, 50 (not eame name on p. 57, which Is the American Otter).— JTuAI, Beitr. 1690, 74. — Ditm. Mamm. i. 1890, 183, no. 384 ; Ency. M6th. pi. 80, f. 4 j Noot. Diet xix, 370.— ffarl. Fn. Amer. 1835, 65.- X«m. Man. 1837, 149.— <7rt/. Cav. R. A. t. 1897, 194, no. 3Sa.—IUch. Syn. 1839, 916.-iNeA. F. B. A. i. ie3», S3, no. IH.-Rieh. Zodl. Voy. Blossom, 1639, N*.— JfV. Ouv. Diet Soi. Kat. xlz. 356.- Martin, P. Z. S. 1833, 97 (anat.).— .SnMNOtM, Rep. Qnad. Mass. 1840, 36.'-Wagn. Sappl. Scbreb. il. 1841, 333.— i>eJray,X. Y. Zotfl. i. 1643,31, ' pi. 13, f. 1 (sknlD.-Aud. t, Penn. Syn. Qaad. 1771, 934, no. 159; Hist. Qnad. 1781, no. 304 ; Arct. Zuol. i. 1784, 78, no. 38 (apparently aame as the animal of Brisson and Baffon).— PeJtan of French Canadian. (' ' Peean " is also foand.) Pekaa-maNer, Maxim. I. e. Fisher, P«nn. Syn. Qaad. 1771, 323, no. 157; Hist. Qnad. 1781, 338, no. 303; Arot Zool. 1. 1784, 83, no. 31 (basis of Jf. pennantii, Erxl.).— Fisher, American, Tulgo. Marte«ptcbenr, Detm. op. eit. 164. FeaaaBt's Martea, Oofm. op. et loe. eit. W<)|ack, Heamt, Joam. —,378. (Also written Weejaek.} OtCfcoek, Oree Indians (Jtiehardson) = Otsehilik, Ojibwayi {Maxim.) = Wejaek, Fur Traders= Woodihoek, Angliei. TfeA*ChA, Chippovtayani (Xois). Black Foi, Black Cat, rxdgo. Hab.-— North America, approximately between 35° and 65°, in wooded portions of the oonntry. U. S. OeoloKio*! 8nrT«.T. MniteUda. PLATE II. 91aatela peanaBtl. (Mat. size.) n i ^ ! i 1 DESCRIPTIOU OF MUSTELA PENNANTI. 63 Specific CHARACTERS. — Black or blackiab, lightening by mixture of brown or gray on the apper fore part and bead ; no conspicuons ligbt tbroat- patoh ; generally darker below than above ; very large and stoat ; length 2 or 3 feet ; tail over a foot long. Description of external characters.* Form. — With its large size, tbis auimal combines a stout- ness of form not seen in other species of the genus. The general aspect is rather that of a Fox than of a Weasel, but, in place of the acute muzzle and pointed ears of the former, we have a fuller face, somewhat canine in physiognomy.t The muzzle is thick and short ; the prominent nasal pad has the ordinary T-shape, and is definitely naked; it is black. The whiskers are stiff, scant, and short, hardly reaching to the ears ; there are other stoutish bristles over the eye, at the corner of the mouth, on the cheeks and chin ; they are all black. The eye is rather large and full for this group. The ears are low, but remarkably broad, being about twice as wide at base as high ; they are rounded in contour, and well furred, both sides, to the entrance of the meatus. The feet are broad and flat, furred both sides, and armed with very stout, compressed, much curved, acute claws, not hidden by the bristles at their base; they are light-colored. On the palm may usually be seen the following pads (though they are sometimes hidden by the overgrowing fur): one at the end of each digit ; a V-shaped area of four nearly coalesced pads, indicated by mere sulci be- tween them, situated opposite the first digit, and indicating the bases of, respectively, the first, the second, the third and fourth combined, and the fifth digit. There is a tenth pad, .aolated from the rest, far back, on the wrist, near the outer border. On the hind feet, the arA ngement of the naked bulbs is essen- tially the same, excer'ini^ that the hiudermost (tenth) one is wanting. The tail-veitebrse are about half as long as the head *From -varions specimena in the Sraithsoniau Institation. t«The physiognomy of the Pekan is very different from that of the Marten. When the latter is threatened, its featnres resemble those of an enraged cat, bat the expression of the Pekan's coantenance approaches to that of a dog, though the apparent obliqaity of its eyes gives it a sinister look. The head has a strong, ronndish, compact appearance, and contracts suddenly to form the nose, which terminates rather acutely. The ears, low and semicircular,, are far apart, so as to leave a broad and slightly rounded forehead. They are smaller in proportion than the ears of the Pine-martin. The eyes, situ- ated where the head carves in to form the nose, appear more oblique than they really are."— (Richardson, I. c.) it ■ 64 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. » i: and body. The tail is cylindric-coDic, rapidly tapering to a iibarp point from the enlarged and bushy base. The general pelage is mach coarser than that of the trne Martens, and looser, if not longei ; it consists of the asi;ial under fur, with long, glossy, bristly hairs intermixed. The pelage is very short on the head. Color. — Color is very variable, according to age, season, or other fortnitous circumstances ; in general, however, a particu- lar pattern, if not also tone, is preserved. The animal is darker below than above, at least on parts of the belly, contrary to the usual rule in this group. The belly, legs, and tail, in most ma- ture examples, are black or blackish-brown, and the hinder part of the body above is much the same. On the rest of the upper parts, however, there is a progressive lightening toward the head, from increasing admixture of light brown and gray shades, which colors, occupying but little, if any, of the length of the hairs on the dark parts of the body, on the lighter parts so increase in extent that they give the prevailing tone, over- powering both the smoky-brown bases and the blackish tips of the hairs. The ear has usually a light bordering. On the under parts, even of the blackest individuals, are usually found irregular white (not tawny or buflfy) blotches on the chest, in the arm-pits, and on the lower belly between the thighs.. The throat may also show a few white hairs, though I have never observed anything like the conspicuous light gular area com- monly displayed by the Marteu. Smaller specimens before me lack much of the general black- ishness above indicated ; still the feet, tail, and at leabt a me- dian abdominal area are darker than the upper parts in general, though the darkness is rather brown than black. The light upper parts are pale or hoary gray, overlaid with the blackish tips of the hairs. Both Bichardson and Audubon note nearly white specimens. Dimensions. — Of the full-grown animal, about 30 inches from nose to root of tail (many specimens are only about 2 feet long, while others a third larger than this are noted). Tail-vertebrre about 14 inches (12 to 16), the terminal hairs 2 to 4 inches longer. Nose to eye 2 inches ; to occiput, over curve of head, 6J ; ear 1 inch high, about tvrice as broad ; distance between tips of ears 7 inches : hind foot 4i ; fore leg, from elbo^r, 6 or 7 inches ; iiind leg, from hip, nearly 12. Individuals are said to range in weight from 8^ to 18 pounds. SKULL AND VERTEBRAE OF M. PENNANTL 65 Skull and vertebra: Cranium. — The skull of this species is iuatautly distingaished from that of Jf. martes by its obviously superior size. The larg- est of six examples before me measures 4.40 iu extreme length by 2.40 in greatest zygomatic width. The under jaw is 3.00 in length. There are other points. The zygomatic arch is nota- bly lower. The skull is more contracted behind the orbits. The larabdoidal (occipital) crest is stronger and more flaring ; its termination as a broad flange back of the meatus audito- rius is conspicuous when the skull is viewed from above, whereas in the skull of M. martes, held in the same position, the terminations of this crest are almost hidden by the bulge of the brain-box. The bony palate is more narrowly and deeply emarginate behind. The bullae auditorii« are relatively smaller and flatter; the meatus is absolutely smaller. Some other minor points might be established. I observe no noteworthy dental peculiarities, aside from superior size of the teeth. This skull exceeds iu length the large fossil one mentioned by Prof. Baird from the Bone Cave of Pennsylvania, which is little over 4 inches long. Several New York skulls are Jess than 4 inches in length by little over 2 in greatest breadth. One skull, of a very old animal, iu which the sutures are all obliterated, is remarkably massive, and broad for its length, measuring only just 4 inches long by full 2.40 in breadth. This series of skulls, like others in this group, shows that the character of the sagittal crest, or elevation, is wholly transi- tory ; in old specimens, the crest is a thin laminar ridge, while in others there is a median longitudinal elevation half an inch or more in width. The lambdoidal crest is subject to the same modifications. The constriction of the skull back of the supra- orbital processes also increases with age. Vertebrcv :—c. 7, rt. 14, 1. 6, s. 3, cd. 20 or 21 (Gerrard). Knee- land {loc. supra cit.) gives the caudals as 20; the rest of his formula agrees with Gerrard's. Of the 14 ribs, he gives 10 as apparently " true " (sternal). The Pekan is much the largest of the genus, and indeed of the whole Weasel kind (subfamily Mustelina), excepting only the Wolverene and (riisoii. In size, as in some other points of form, vigor, and ferocity, it approaches the W^olverene, and is obviously the connecting link between Mustcla and Gulo. It has no immediate representative in the Old World. 5 M ^ ^ 66 NORTH AMERICAN MU8TELID.E, GENERAL HISTORY, HABITS, AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBU- TION OF THE SPECIES. As this species is confined to North America, and as it pre- sents marked zoological character.^, its written history is less extensive and less involved than that of animals which have a circumpolar distribation in both the Old and New World. In tracing up this matter, we go back to the works of Baffon, Brisson, and Pennant, all of whom appear to have described the animal from the same specimen — one in the cabinet of M. Aubry at Paris. It is the Pekan of Bnflfon, 1765, and the Fisher of Pennant, Syn. Quad. 1771. Pennant's account of his Fisher is unmistakable ; but he describes, in addition, the Jt*ekan of Buft'on, not re • gnizing in it the same species. These two accounts furnished /" many years the bases of all the sci- entific binomial names ir osed by various authors. The Mus- tela canadensis of Schrebei,.1777, is the Pekan of Bnffon ; the M. pennantii of Erxleben, 1777, and Jf. melanorhyncha of Bod- daert, 1784, are the Fisher of Pennant. This is perfectly plain ,• but a question of pnoiity arises between the names pennantii Erxl. and canadensis Schreb., owing to some uncertainty of actual date of publication of the works of Erxleben and Schreber, since the supposed eari author quotes the other in various places. Judging, however, by the printed dates of publication, as the proper means of arbitration, pennantii of Erxleben takes precedence. The question is, however, further complicated by the fact that Erxleben has also a Mustt>la cana- densis (p. 455), which Included both the Vison and Pekan of Buffon — the Mink and the Fisher; and many authors have adopted the name for the latter. But, as Prof. Baird has clearly shown, Erxleben's description of M. canadensis applies solely to the Mink, and, indeed, will take precedence over M. vison, if Brisson be not quotable as an authority in biDorjinal nomenclature. As a summary of the subject, therefore, it may be said that M. canadensis Erxl. goes to the Mink, wuile M. ca- nadensis Schreb. and authors sinks to a synonym of M. pennantii Erxl. In later years, various nominal species have been established upon the Pekan, none of which, however, require special dis- cussion. The naLie Fisher, very geuf .?l'f -i-oplied to this species by others as well as authors, \ o< n nee; tain origin, but probably HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE PEKAN. 67 arose from some misconception of its babits, or from confound- ing tbem with those of the Mink. The name is entirely inap- plicable, as the animal is not aqaatic, does not fish, nor habitu- ally live upon fish, and it should be discarded, as likely to perpetuate the confusion and'misunderstanding of which it has alw M o a greater or less extent been the cause. Pekan is a word of unknown,* or at least of no obvious, application, but is less objectionable, inasmuch as it does not mislead. As to the supposed piscatorial exploits of the Pekan, we find refuta- tion in some of the very earliest accounts of those who, unlike certain compilers of books, bad actual knowledge of the ani- mals they recounted. Thus Bartram, who is quoted by Pen- nant, states that " though they are not amphibious, and live on all kinds of lesser quadrupeds, they are called Fi8hers^\ Hearne states that they dislike water as much as cats do. In fact, the universal testimony of those who are best informed is that the economy of the Pekan is as nearly as possible like that of the Pine Marten, as indeed one would expect, judging by analogy. Godmau, a naturalist who has perhaps not always been fully appreciated, states ihe case correctly in criticising the same points: — "That it will eat fish when thrown on shore there is little doubt, as almost all the carnivorous animals are delighted with such food : but we have no proof that this Marten is in the habit of fishing for itself." Sir John Richardson has a para- graph which may be quoted in continuation of this point, as well as for its affording further insight into the character of the species : — "The Pekan is a larger and stronger animal than any variety of the Pine Marten, but it has similar manners ; climbing trees with facility, and preying principally upon mice. It lives in the woods, preferring damp places in the vicinity of water, in which respect it differs from the Martin, which is generally found in the dryest spots of the pine forests. The Fisher is said to prey much upi-.i frogs in the summer season; but I have been informed tay,t its favorite food is the Canada porcu- pine, which it kills by biting on the belly. It does not seek its food in the water, although, like the Pme-martin, it will feed upon the hoards of frozen fish laid up by the residents It brings forth, once a year, from two to four young." Doubt has been cast by A udubon upon Richardson's state- * Compare Ptan or Fctan, the AseiDiboine name of the Otter, which may possibly ha'o become traneferred with modification to the present Gpecies. m? 6S NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiG. ill ji m !i 1 1 ment tbat tbe Pekan i Us the Porcupine ; but its accuracy is attested by Mr. Gilpiu lu tbe article above quoted, who states that Porcupine quills have beea found in its stomach. A modified derivation of the name Fislier is given by De Kay : — " We are informed by a person who resided many years near Lake Oneida, where the Fisher was then common, that tbe name was derived from ics singular fondness for the fish used to bait traps. The hunters were in the practice of soak- ing their fish over night, and it was frequently carried off by tbe fisher, whose well known tracks were seen in tbe vicinity. In Hamilton County it is still [1842] numerous and trouble* some. The hunters there have assured me tbat they have known a fisher to destroy twelve out of thirteen traps in a line not more than fourteen miles long." The same author contin- ues : — " The hunting season for the fisher, in the northern part rf the State, commences about the tenth of October, and lasts to the middle of May, when fhe furs are not so valuable. The ordinary price is $1.50 per skin; but it is not so fine, nor so highly valued as tbat of tbe sable." According to all ac- counts, the animals were formerly very abundant in the State of Kew York, where, however, they have latterly become re- stricted to (lortbern mouutainous aud thinly settled portions. The bone caves of Pennsylvania, accoi'ding to Baird, have furnished numerous remains of Pennant's Marten, among them one skull larger than some recent ones examined (but compare p. 65). The animal may be still found occasionally in the mountains north of Carlisle, in Perry County, where the liv- ing animal figured by Audubon was procured. The distribution of tbe Pekan is general in wooded districts throughout the greater part of North America. As indicating approximately the southern limit of its distribution (for, like the Marten and Ermine, it is essentially a northern animal), we may refer to its occurrences in North Carolina and Tennessee, as atte«ited by Audubon and Bacbman. The i)arallel of 35° may be near its limit. Mr. Allen recently ascertained its pres- ence in Colorado. West of the Rocky Mountains it was long ago noted by Lewis aud Clarke, whose accounts of the " Black Fox " are checked by numerous later observers, as Newberry, Cooper, and Suckley, who found it in Washington and Oregon Territories. From California, however, I have no advices, though the animal probably inhabits at least a part of tbat State. Dr. Newberry says it is rare in Oregon, but less so in I. n. I HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE PEKAN. 69 Washiogtou Territory. Accordiug to Dr. Suckley, it is found quite plentifully in the thickly wooded districts nlong the eastern, and probably also the western, slopes of the Cascade Range, especially in the neighborhood of streams ; it also in- habits the Blue Mountains of the same region. In the eastern United States, it must not be presumed that it actually occurs now throughout its ascribed range ; for the settlement of the country practically restricts it to the more inaccessible or at least unfrequented wooded districts. Many years ago, as we have already seen, it had become greatly thinned out in the Middle States, and this process has been steadily progressing, until, at the present day, the Pekan is almost unknown in most of the United States east of the Mississippi. Writing in 1853, Mr. Kennicot states it "used frequently to be seen" in Illinois in the heavy timber along Lake Michigan. Il New England, according to Mr. Allen, it probably still occurs, though rarel}', iu the Ilocsac ranges. In 1840, Dr. Emmons reported it as occasionally found in the vicinity of Williamstown, Mass., especially in the mountainous ranges which extend through Stamford, Vt. It is stated to bo rare iu Canada, and not found at all in the populous districts. In Nova Scotia, according to Dr. Gilpin, it was never very plenty, and is being rapidly exterminated, only two hundred at most being taken yearly, chiefly in the high wild region of the Cobequid Hills in Cum- berland. In British America, Sir John Kichardson states that it is found as far north as Great Slave Lake, latitude G3^ ; and the specimens I have examined confirm this dispersion, ex- tending it to include Alaska also. The Pekan is stated to breed but once a year: it brings forth its young in the hollow of a tree, usually 30 or 40 feet from the ground. Two, three, and four young, but not more, so far as I have learned, ire produced in a litter. It has been known to offer desperat*^ esistance in defence of its young, as on the occasion when lue individual figured by Audubon was procured. This animal, a young one, was kept in confinement for several days. " It was voracious, and very spiteful, growl- ing, snarling and sp'f-ting when approached, but it did not appear to suffer much uneasiness from being held in captivity, as, like many other predacious quadrupeds, it grew fat, being becter supplied with food than when it had been obliged to cater for itself in the woods." Another mentioned by the same author as having been exhibited in a menagerie in 70 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiG. * w Charleston, S. C, some months after its capture, continued sullen and spiteful, hastily swallowing its food nearly ^vhole, and then retiring in growling humor to a dark corner of its cage. Hearne, however, has remarked that.the animal is easily tamed, and shows sone affection at times. When taken very young, it may becon^e perfectly tame, and as playfnl as a kitten ; such was the oase with a pair mentioned by Mr. B. K. Koss. The Pekan is sometimes forced, by failure of other sources of supply, to a vegetarian diet, when it feeds freely upon beech- nuts. In continuation of the history of this animal, which I have had no opportunity of studying in the living state, the following paragraphs are quoted from the authors just mentioned, as illustrative of its habits and manners: — "Pennant's Marten appears to prefer low swampy ground; we traced one which had followed a trout stream for some dis- tance, and ascertained that it had not gone into the water. Marks were quite visible in different places where it had scratched up the snow by the side of logs and piles of timber, to seek for mice or other small quadrupeds, and we have no doubt it preys upon the Northern hare, gray rabbit, and ruffed grouse, as we observed a great many tracks of those species in the vicinity. It further appears that this animal makes an occasional meal on species which are much more closely allied to it than those just mentioned. In a letter we received from Mr. Fothergill, in which he furnishes us with notes on the habits of some of the animals existing near Lake Ontario, he informs us that ' a Fisher was shot by a hunter named Marsh, near Port Hope, who said it was up a tree, iu close pursuit of a pine marten, which he also brought with it.' . . . " Whilst residing iu the northern part of our native State (New York), thirty-five years ago, the hunters were in the habit of bringing us two or three specimens of this Marten in the course of a winter. They obtained them by following their tracks iu the snow, when the animals had been out in quest of their prey the previous night, thus tracing them to the hollow trees in which they were concealed, which they chopped down. Th€j informed us that as a tree was falling, the Fisher would dart from the hollow, which was often fifty feet from the ground, and leap iuco the snow, when the dugs usually seized and killed him, althoagh uot without a hard struggle, as the Fisher was HISTOBY AND HABITS OF THE PEKAN. 71 iofloitely more dangerous to their UouuiU than either the gray or red fox. They usually called this species the Black Fox. "A servant, on one occasion, came to us before daylight, ask- ing us to shoot a raccoon for him, which, after having been chased by his dogs the previous night, had tP.Ken to so large a tree that Ue neither felt disposed to climb it nor to cut it down. On our arrival at the place, it was already light, and the dogs were barking furiously at the foot of the tree. We soon per- ceived that instead of being a raccoon, the animal was a far more rare and interesting species, a Fisher. As we were anx- ious to study its habits we did not immediately shoot, but teased it by shaking some grape vines that hac crept up nearly to the top of the tree. The animal not only became thoroughly frightened, but seemed furious ; he leaped from branch to branch, showing his teeth and growling at the same time ; now and then he ran half way down the trunk of the tree, elevating his back in the manner of au angry cat, and we every moment expected to see him leap off and fall among the dogs. He was brought down after several discbarges of the gun. He seemed extremely tenacious of life, and was game to the last, holding oh to the nose of a dog with a dying grasp. This animal proved to be a male: the body measured tweuty-flve inches, and the tail, including the fur, fifteen. The servant who had traced him, informed us that he appeared to have far less speed than a fox, that he ran for ten minutes through a swamp iu a straight direction, and then took to a tree. . . . " Species that are decidedly nocturnal iu their habits, fre- quently may be seen moving about by day during the period when they are engaged in providing for their young. Thus the raccoon, the opussum, and all cur bares, are constantly met with in spring, and early summer, in the morning and after- noon, whilst in autumn and winter they only move about by night. In the many fox hunts, iu which our neighbours wer^ from time to time engaged, not far from our residence at the north, ... we never heard of their having encountered a single Fisher in the daytime; but when they traversed the same grounds at night, in search of raccoons, it was not unusual for them to discover and capture this species. We were informed by trappers that they caught the Fisher in their traps only by night. " On several occasions we have seen the tracks of the Fisher in the suot ; they resemble those of the pine marten, but are Ii II 72 NOHTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. double tlieir size. To judge by them, the animal advances by short leaps in the manner of a miuk." I will supplement this aucouiit with the interesting experi- ences of ]Mr. B. K. Koss (as recounted I. 8. c.) with this species in the Mackenzie Kiver region : — " In this district it is not found except in the vicinity of Fort Resolution, which may be con- sidered as its northern limit. In the numerous deltas of the mouth of Slave River it is abundant, frequenting the large grassy marshes or prairies, for the purpose of catching mice, its principal food. In appearance it bears a strong family likeness to both the martin and the wolverene. Its general shape assimi- lates more to the former, but the head and ears have a greater similitude to those of the latter. It is named by the Chippei- wayan Indians 'Tha cho,' or great martin. Its neck, legs and feet are stouter in proportion than those of the martin, and its claws much stronger. Incolor and size it varies greatly. Young full-furred specimens, or those born the previous spring, can scarcely be distinguished from a large martin except by a darker pelage and a less full, more pointed tail. As it advances towards old age, the color of the fur grows lighter, the long hairs become coarser, and the grayish markings are of greater extent and more conspicuous. "The largest fisher which I have seen was killed by myself on the Riviere de Argent, one of the channels of the mouth of Slave River, about 15 miles from Fort Resolution. It was fully as long as a Fulvus fox, much more muscular, and weighed 18 pounds. In the color of its fur the greyish tints preponderated, extending from half way down the back to the nose. The fur was comparatively coarse; though thick and full. The tail was long and pointed, and the whole shade of the pelage was very light and had rather a faded look. Its claws were very strong and of brown color; and as if to mark its extreme old age the teeth were a good deal worn and very much decayed. I caught it with difficulty. For about two weeks it had been infesting my martin road, tearing down the traps and devouring the baits. So resolved to destroy it, I made a strong wooden trap. It climbed up this, entered from above, and ate the meat. A gun was next set but with no better success, it cut the line and ran off with the boue that was tied to the end of it. As a * dernier resort' I put a steel trap in the middle of the road^ covered it carefully, and set a bait at some distance on each side. Into this it tumbled. From the size of its footprints my HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE PEKAN. 78 impressiou all along was that it was a Hinall wolverene that was annoying lue, and I was surprised to tiiul it to be a fisher. It shewed good fight, hissed at me much like an enraged cat, bit- ing at the iron trap, and snapping at my legs. A blow on the nose turned it over, when I completed its dt-ath by compressing the heart with my foot until it ceased to be.»t. The skin when stretched for drying was fuUy as large as a middle sized otter, and very strong, in this respect resembling that of a wolverene. <'In their habits the fishers resemble the martins. Their food is much the same Hut they do not seem to keep so gener- ally in the noods. They are not so nocturnal in their wander- ings as the foxes. An old fisher is nearly as great an infliction to a martin trappfi is a wolverene. It is an exceedingly pow- erful animal for its size, and will tear down the wooden traps with ease. Its regularity in visiting them is exemplary. In one quality it is however superior to the wolverene, which is that it leaves the sticks of the traps where they were planted : while the other beast if it can discover nothing better to hide, will cache them some distance off. It prefers meat to fish, is not very cunning, and is caught without difficulty in the steel- trap. Fishers are caught by methods similar to those employed in fox-trapping.*' It may not be generally known that the Pekan successfully assaults an animal as large as the Raccoon; indeed, that the abundance of the latter in some districts depends in a measure upon the rarity of the former. The following letter, addressed to Prof. Baird, in 1857, by Mr. Peter Reid, of Washington County, New York, sufficiently attests these facts: — "Raccoons are more numerous here now than they were at the first set- tlement of the country, or for some time subsequent. Thirty years ago they were so seldom found, that many boys 15 or 18 years old had scarcely seen one. Before the increase In their numbers I once witnessed a circumstance that satisfied my mind on this score. Whilst hunting, early one winter I found the carcase of a freshly killed sheep, and by the tracks around it in the light snow perceived that a Fisher had sur- prised a Raccoon at the feast. A hard chase had ensued, the Raccoon tacking at full speed to avoid his pursuer, the Fisher outrunning and continually confronting his intended victim. I saw where at length the Fisher had made an assault, and where a bloody contest had evidently ensued. The Raccoon, worsted in the encounter, had again broken away, and the chase IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) O ^A 'ks fie 1.0 1^ ?^ m 12.2 £ 1^ 12.0 III 1.4 1^ -^^i .**' ^^ O 7 FtiotogFSfM: Sdenoes Carporation L1>^ <^ as WiST MAIN STRUT WnSTIR.N.Y. 14SM (716) 177-4503 ;\ 74 NORTH AMERICAi- MUSTELIDiE. m w was resumed, but with dimiuished energy on the part of the Rac- coon ; the animal had been soon overtaken again, and a still more desperate encounter had taken place. The Goon had failed fast, and it had at length become merely a running fight, when both animals had entered a swamp where it was impossible for me to trace them further; but I have no doubt the Goon was killed. 1 have witnessed similar engagements between the Mink and Mnskrat, the Weasel and House Rat, always ending in the death of tho assaulted. The Fisher has been nearly extinct in these parts for about twenty-five years, and this to my mind accounts for the great increase in numbers of the Raccoon." INTKRPOLATED MATTER RELATING TO THE EXOTIC MUSTEL^, >ni. MARTES, FOINA, AND ZIBELLINA. Before euteriug upon the disouasiou of the iutimate relatiouships of the American Sable or Pine Marten with its extralimital allies, some notice of the latter seems to be required in order to a better understanding of the in- tricate questions concerned. I accordingly present the three exotic species, with such remarks as seem called for and as I am able to offer. The ma- terial before me indicates, with little hazard of error, that the American form is specifically distinct from both the Beech Marten and the Pine Marten of Europe. Its relationships with the Asiatic Sable seem to be closer, but these I am unable to discuss satisfactorily, owing to lack of specimens of the Asiatic animal. Note, — Much of the synonymy r«Utiug to these esotlo specie* has been rather gnmnia- rily compiled at second hand, and shouid be taken with the alluwanoe for " probable error " which uanally obtains in such cases. 1. The European Pine Marten. Mnatela marles. Plate in. Maries, Antiquorum.—Sldrot. Quad. Digit. 1645, 331.— CharUt. Esercit. 1677, 90.— Wa^n. Helvet \9D0, ldl.—8ibb. Soots. Illust. 1664, iL II.— Szaet. Polon. 1741, 339; irj6, 314— Linn. 8. K. L 9d ed. 1740, ii.—Jontt Xbeatr. Quad. 1 755, pL 64. MartM Sjrif CSlrlS, a»m. Quad. 1551, 865, tg.—Jon$t Tbeatr. Qaad. 1755, 156. MartM arkerea, BdiunnOtf. Theriotroph. 1603, llO. Martet !■ arkorlkas, Affrie- Anim. Snbter. 1614, 38. Varies akitlaa, Ray, 8yn.Qaad. 1693. 300.— KUin, Qaad. 1751, 64 —FUming, Br. An. 19M, 14.-JMI, Brit Quad. 1837, 174 ; 9d ed. 1974, 917.— 0«rr. Cat. Bones. Br. Mns. ll:<69. 90.— Oray, LUt Uamm. Br. Mas. 1843, 63 ; P. Z. S. 1865, 104 ; Cat Carn. Br. Mus. 1669, Bl.— FUt. Naturg. S^ng. L 1661, 335, f. 67. Martcs aklctiH var$. aartcs, raltaris, allaica, Oray, P. z. S. iseis. 104; Cat. Cam. Br. Mna. 1669, 89 (but obvlonaly not MutUta altaica Pall., which is a Puloriut). MntCla fllTO aivricaas, gala MlUte. Linn. Fn. Sueo. 1st ed. 1746, 3, no. 7 ; Syst Nat «d. 6th, 1748, 5, no. 3 —aiU, Hist An. 175-2, 546, pi. 97.— Cram. Elencb. An. 1756, 311. Ill U. 8. OeoIoKieal Snrvey. MniteUd*. PLATB m. aimtcto aiarlM. (Nat. sIm.) EUROPEAN FINE MARTEN, IfUSTELA MARTES. 75 ■ntel* mmtin, Bri»$. Quad. 17M, 947, no. 8 — L. Fn. 8ae«. 9«nn. Syn. Quad. 1771, 815, no. 154 ; Brit Zool. 3^, fle. Plae ■wteii, Sweet Martei, VelIow*breaale4 M»rtt».-Englith. Description of the skull and tseth of M, martes. ' (See Plate III.) The HkuU and teetb of M. martes may be described in general terms to illustrates this part of the structure of the genua, and to serve as a standard of comparison for the 'ither closely related species. The points in which they specially differ froui that of Putorius are elsewhere' summed. The skull indioafws considerable strength, particularly in the rostral portions, where it is maraive (still it is not so strong relatively as in either Gulo or Putorius); the cranial part is thinner, and usually gives indication of the cerebral folds within. Most of the sutures are early obliterated ; those of the nasals, bullie auditoriie, and zygomatic processes of sqnamosal and malar are the last to disappear. The nasals persist separate from each other long after they fnae with the maxillaries. The zygomatic width of the skull is more than half its length ; these Arches are upright, but are borne well away from the skull by the outward obliquity of their roots, both fore and aft. From an egg-shape cerebral part, the skull tapers to a decided postorbital constriction ; this is approxi- mately of the same (more or less) width as the rostral part. The cerebral part is rather broader than high. The upper profile of the skull is slightly 76 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.C. \ convex, H]opiiig more rapidly down behind, with a frontnl concavity and oblique nasal oriflce. The roof of the brain-box is convex in every direction ; a temporal "fossa" lieiug only indicated by the ridges (sagittal and lamb- doidal), which indicate the extent of the tt^mporiil muscle. The sagittal crest divaricates anteriorly to run out to each Rupraorbital process; in old ani- mals, it is a thin high ridge ; in the yonng, a tablet of greater or less width. The occipital crest rises and flares with nge, but is always a thin edge. The occipital depression below this is well marked ; the condyles are notably projecting, and connected by a sharp ridge below the foramen magnum. The mastoids are not conspicuous. The bnllie are large, elongate, oblique, convex forward ; a slight constriction across them, and some outward pro- longation, develops a tubular meatus. Excepting the bnllie, the general floor of the skull is quite flat. The palate is completely ossified some dia- tancc back of the molars, and nearly plane. A broad, deep emargination lies between the pterygoids ; these are simply laminar, vertical, and terminate in a well marked hamular process. The palatal plates of the intermazil* laries, when not fused, are seen to be of very slight extent ; the small inoisiTe foramina do not reach as far back as the hinder border of the canines. The' orbits are pretty well defined by the curve of the zygoma and presence of supraorbital processes, but are not otherwise distinguished from the general temporal cavity. The anteorbital foramen is large, high up over the fore edge of the last premolar. The nasal orifice has a well-marked and little irregular bony parietes. The jaw has a lightly and somewhat irregularly convex inf :.ior profile. The coronoid plate is large, erect, its apex reaching or slightly overlapping the zygomatic arch. The angle of the jaw is a slight sbarp process. The con- dyle is low, about on the level of the teeth, broad from si(7e to side, bnt very narrow in the opposite direction. Its reception in the gle loid fossa is close, bnt the articulation does not lock as in Mdes or Tajcidea. The single upper molar is completely tubercular, low, flat, with irre^lar minor elevations and depressions, much broader transversely than length- wise, subquadrate in general contour, partly divided by a slight median constriction (both vertical and horizontal), with an inner and outer moiety, whereof the former more or less considerably exceeds the outer in length. The inner border of this inner moiety is always strongly convex, with m raised brim. In typical M. marten, the inner moiety is twice (to speak roundly) as large as the outer. In Jf. americana, much as in /oiiia, the disproportion is obviously less. The outer border of the outer moie^-' in nii li««t«l» tolna* (Vat aiM.) EUROPEAN BEECH MARTEN, Ml>T£LA FOINA. 77 Inoiaon are oIomIj crowded ; the outer pair are tnnoh larger than the reek ; tbeee are all alike. The outer are regularly curved, with an enlarged oin- galnm around the base ; the others etart obliquely forirard flroni the Jaw, then turn vertically downward with an appreciable angle. In the lower Jaw, of the two molan the hinderuiost ia email, olroular, and completely tuberculous. The next is the largest of the under teeth, ehiedy tectorial in character, but with a depressed, rimmed, tubercular, posterior moiety. This rim at each of its ends rises into a alight cusp, but the inner one is merely a slight heel to the central cusp, instead of a prominent point aa in M. foitia. The two main ouaps of the tooth are much higher, the hinder one highest, compressed, with cutting edge, forming with each other the usual V-sbape reSotrance, continued further down as a closed slit. The last premolar is a conical cusp augmented posteriorly by a secondary cusp half aa high, and with a heel both before and behind at the base. The next premolar is like the last, but smaller, with a mere trace of the secondary ■cusp, though it is well heeled fore and aft. On the next premolar, the seC' •ondary cusp entirely subsides in a general gentle slope from the summit of the tooth to its base behind, and the front heel is not developed. The tirst premolar is simply a minute knob. It looks like a tooth hardly yet estab- lished, or else about to disappear. The lower canines are shorter, stonter, «nd more curved than the upp«!r. The six incisorH are greatly orowdetl be- iween the canines, so much so that, through lack of room, one at least some- times fails to develop, leaving only /Ire, as in more than one specimen before me. They are smaller than the upper ones, and not so regular, for one or A pair— most frequently the middle one — on each side is crowded back out -of the plane of the rest. As in the upiier Jaw, the outer pair of under inoi- aon are the largest, and have slightly clubbed and bilobate tips. 3. The European Beeck marten. Muatela roin«» Plate IV. Hartes iOMesilca, Ot»n. Quad. 1551, 865, lAg.—Aldrov. g,iad. Dixit. iniS, 33i.—Jontt. Thestr. Quad. 1735, 156. Martcs laxalills, Sehwtnckfeld, Tberiotropb. 1603, 110. Mar««S la taxis, Agrie. Anlm. Subter. 16U, 38. Maries flicarMai, Buy, Syn. Quad..l693, aoo.-Ffem. Dr. An. lf«8, u. VartM saxema, KUin, Quad. 1751, 64. Matlela fejraa, Briu. Quad. 175H, 346, no. 7.— Pan. Zoiig. K. A. i. 1811, M. Haslcla fMaa, WkiU, Pbil. Trans. Ixiv. 1774, VJ6.—Erxl. Syat. An. 1777, 458, no. 5.-«cAre6. Sitng. iii. 1778, 494, pi. 139.— Ztotm. UMftr. Qeacb. li. 1780, 303, no. 196— Om. S. K. 1. 1788, as, no. 14.— H«rm. Obs. ZoSi. 4'i.—Witdung. Taacb. fUr 1600, —.—B«eh$t. Naturg. i. , 755.— Dmm. Mamm. L 1890, 183 ; Nouv. Diet xlx. 380 ; Enoy. M^tb. pL 81, f. 1.— Fr. Cuv. Diet. Soi. Nat. sxix. 334.— /«. <7«o/. Diet. ClaM. x. 909.— Ori/. An. Kingd. V. 1897, 193, no. 350.— /en. Br. Vert. 1833, II.— 8tlyt-L. Fn. Belg. i. 1849, 9.— jr«v«. '• U- S<1 "«r. xx. 1857, 416.— Brandt, Bemerlc. Wirb. Eur. N. E. Raaal. , 94.—Bliu. Wirb. Dentachl. 1857, 917, f. 193.— JOekd, Zool. Gart. xiv. 1873, 457 (albino). ''iTiTerra ftolaa, Shaw, Gen. Zool. i. 1800, 409. 78 NORTH A&IEHICAN MUBTELID^E. U»rit% M**, U*U, Urit. q»mi. I(U7, 107 ; iKl •'«nN<»i. ■■■•■•Ner, JKarf. Buff. Vierf. Tb, 147, pi. «l a.—8rhr. Fn. Bote. I. no. 9.—U«rmmi». MartlM. iVnn. Byn. Qaad. 1771, 919. no. IM -, Br. Zoiil. 3«. (//omm, Stom. and BmcA JTar- f«n. itarUm, Mtrttrun. Martklt.) Palaat A>>an<«A. The Beech or Stone MarttMi, wbicb He«ins tn be troll establisbeJ nsa spectea, may asually be diatiodniabed from tbe Pine Marten by the pare white throat and acme other external features, as well as by some difference in babita. Bot stronger characters are foand In the sknll and teeth. Some differences in tbe proportions of the sknll are obvionn, and snflScient to confer a ncog' nizably different physiognomy ; the rostral part of the sknll is mach shorter. The flrontal profile above is more sloping ; the zygomatic width is relatively greater. The zygoma is regularly arcbeil tbronghoat, instead of rising ab- ruptly behind and then sloping down gradually forward. 'The anterior root of tbe zygoma, owing to the shortness of tbe mnzzle, is nearly half-way from the supraorbital process to the end of tbe sknll ; it is mnob farther back in if. mtirtet. Tbe palate is much shorter and broader fpr its length. The back upper molar is very notably less massive; its inner moiety is bat littl'j larger than tbe outer ; the latter is nicked on the outer border, whereas in M. martea the inner moiety of tbe same is nearly twice as large as tbe outer, and the border of the latter is strongly convex. In if./oina, tbe inner anterior fang of the last premolar is very small and oblique ; in M. martm, it is much larger and projects inward at a right angle. Tbe next premolar is appreciably smaller than the same tooth in M. martes. These dental peculiarities, taken ttotu specimens before me, are confirmatory of Blasius' dia)rnosi8. Tbe skulls are 3.35 or less in total length by about 1.90 in greatest width ; those of M. marte$ are 3.oU or more in leugtb, with a width scarcely greater than in if. marici. It seems a slight difference in the figures, but tbe resulting mod- ification in shape is decided. Similarly, the palate of M.foina is about 1.40 in length by 0.90 in greatest width inside tbe teeth ; that of if. siartet is 1.70 in length, with no greater width. As a practical means of appreciating these differences, let one take the Jaw of if. martn, and try to fit it to a skull of if. /oiaa, or conversely. Cautions and accurate observers, like Dau- benton and Bell, have recorded their doubts of the specific distinctness of the two forms; bat Bell, at least, has found reason to change his opinion, while the views of many equally good judges are concnrreat with thosejbere adopted. ASIATIC SABLE, MIXTELA ZIBELLINA. Tfr 3. The Avintie «iible. .Vaatvla ■Ibvlllnn. MNUrlM Mkf lU, Qt$n. ^}\im\. IUI, ma.—Rtaez. Anct. Polon. 1730, 317. MNilel* MkriM. Fortr. Atig. Thlerb. 0«toer, Xtxif, 347. MNdela IlkelllM, SUtrot. Qutd. Diftt. 1043, 333.— CAirbr. Exereit. l«n, Va.—Ray, Syn. (juMl. 16tf3. JtOl— Linn. S. X. Sii ed. 1740. 44 1 Oth ed. 1740, 5, no. l.—KUin, Quul. 1731, 64.— /oiuf. Tbeatr. Qiuul. 1733, 130— Linn. 8. X. lOtb ed. 173a, 46, no. 8; 19th ed. 1706, 00. no. 9.—^. a. am. N. C. Petrop. t. 330. pi. 0.— £rx(. Syst An. 1777, 407, no. 9.-8chrtb. Sttag. Iti. I77e, 47d, pi. 130.-/imiN. Oeofcr. OMoh. 11. 1740, 309, no. 100.— Pnll 8pio. Zool. xir. KM, 34, pi. 3, f. 9; Zotfrt- K. A. 1. 180, 83, pi. t.-Turt. 8. N. i. 18U0, 39.— (^m. 8. N. i. 17M, 90, no. 9.—3im. Kom. 0«Mh. 111. 493.— Dwm. Hnnim. I. IMO, IM, no. 989; Nonv. Diet. zix. i^\ Snoy. ll«tb. pi. 89.— IV. Cm». Diot. 8oL Nat. xxlx. 1893, 9S3.-/«. Qtof. Diet. ClaM. z. 910.— OK/. An. Klngd. v. 1897, 194, no. 331.— L«M. Man. 1807, 14d.-iVwA. Syn. 1809, 310.— Biaiiwf. Compt. Road. xiv. 1849, 910 Mq. pU.—8ehiM, Syn. Main. i. 1S44, 330.-Oi«6. Sitag. lefSS. 776.— firamit, B«merk. Wirb. X. E. RoMl. 91.— JTidd. 8iblr. SXng. 68, pi. 9.— Sehr«nek, RetM AmnrI , 97. NastcU ■•riM ItkCllllt, JBiiM.Qnad. 1730, 348, no. 9. TlTcrra ilbelllas, 8hnw, 0«n. Zodl. i. 1800, 4li. .««H« IIMIlia, Oray, P. Z. & 1803, 103 (" JfiuMla" Uiptw) : Cat. Carn. Br. Mn«. 1869, R3. M«?t«l llkellllia var. MiallM, Brandt Beit. Kennt. Siiag. KumI. 183.V 0, pll. 1, li, and pi. Ill, f. 7,8,9 (many "•ubrarietiea" nameil). ZokeU. Agrie- Anim. Sabt«r. 1014, 39. Mckelllaa, Schef. Lappon. 1073, 343. Zeliel, StnhUnb. Ear. a. Asia, 1730, 430.— J. O. am. Reise. (. 1731. 391.-i7(iU. Katurg. Vlerf. Tbiorv, 1757, 439.— jra/{. Natura. 1773, 379.— SMf. Kauitacht. 1774, 119.— itarttn», Zuol. 0-*-t. xi, 1870, 334 (philological). takcldirr, Boutt Xat. Hist Dieren, U. 1761, 904.-i>i/f<'A. XlbcIlM, Bnff. Hist. Xat xiii. 1703, 309.-Iiomar«, Diet iv. 176i>, 6iO.-Freneh. CehCllIlM, CeTeilina. SpanUh.—l\h«lUmo, Italian.— Suhbtl, Hivedith.—^bol, Poliih, Kim- lUn. Sable, Pmn. .Syn. Qnad. 1771, 917, no. 156 ; Hist Qnad. 339, no. 901 ; Arot. Zo6l. i. 1784. 79, no. 30. (Saphilina* PiUu, aable akins, is foand in Jornandes; Zomboliitu ooours in Marco Po)o.— ITebitor.) Lack of specimens of tbis form nnfortnnateJy prevents me from bringing it into the discnssion upon any original investigations ; tbe views of aathors are discnssed beyond. I have, however, careftally examined both skins and skolla of Jf. martet, fvina, and americana. Such is the variability of the pelage, that probably no decisive indications can be gathered from comparisons of tbe skins, however widely these may differ in extreme cases. The skulls and teeth afford the readiest means of separating these three closely-allied forms. The following measurements of three skulls, selected as fairly expressing averages of If. martet, foina, and americana respectively, will show in what the cranial differences consist. The sknll of M. foina differs more from those of both M. martet and M. americana than these latter do from each other; bnt these latter are readily distinguished by their dental- characters. 11 10 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. Mta»iirtmmt$ of $ktilh of MM. roiKA, martu, «n4 ambmcaka. M. folna (Ucrauwy). Ineku. ToUllenith { las OfMlMt width ' 1.M LaMt width (eseluntT* of buuU) 0. W IMaUBM batwiMQ orblta 0.M Upper Inolaon tntn front hinder auriin of palate 1.35 ITpporiiMlaraaBd pnimoUra, leogth Ukon lOEathar olM Lower Jaw, lensth, fhnu apei of •yaphy- ala to back of condyle 9.05 Lower Jaw, height anule to top of coro- Mid 0.M Front border of orbll, aad of Intermaz. Illary , 0.M Width of mm sle behind caniaeo 5lM Oreateat leacth of tygouia i 1.80 Oreateat width of paUte inaide teeth 0. «« Width aoroea anpraorbltal proceaaea 1. , 60— Bd. M. N. A. 1857, 153, pi. 36, f. 3 (aknll), pi. 37, f. 1 (aknll).— A'eipft. P. R. R. Rep. vi. If57, n.-Kntel. Proo. Boat. Soc.,::. H. vL 1858, 418.— Coop. 74. 69.— Coue* uo •••••■ I ....do . (March) .... ....do ... Peel's River (December) . .do. ...do .. ...do .. ...do .. ....do.. do .. ....do .. — do.. ...do .. ...do.. ....do .. ...do .. ....do.. ...do .. ...do .. . . do . . ...do .. . . .do . . ...do .. ...do .. ...do .. ...do .. ...do .. .(November) ■ ■ * > a lUO ••••■• • ••>•• U V ■••••■ do ..(December). do . . (November) . ■ ■•••• no ■•■••• • ■ > • ■ ■ UO ■■•••• do do . . (December) . ..(October) ... • ■>■■• UO ■•■••• >■•••• UO •••■•• • •••■• UU ■•■••• . .... do do >•■••• UO ■•••■• »■•>•■ UO ■••■•* do From tip of DOM to— 1.60 3. 11.70H. 1.40-}. I. Hi. It. 3313. 1.63 3. II.OOjS. |l.70;3. 1. 75 3. !l. 453. 1 1. 4513. 11.60 3. |1. 40:i 1 1.703. 1.433. 11.63 3 ll. 60 3 1. 60;3. .1.60:3. 1.603. ll. 40 3. 1. 43,3. 1. 603. 1. «5 3. 1.33 3. l.tlO.S. 1. 611 3. 1.603. 1. 60 a. 1.60 3. 1.60 3. 1.30 3. 1. 40 3. 00 4.40 00|4.3U 60!3. 80 HOili. 43 60 3.60 90{3. 93 901.1. 93 73>3. 90 65 3. 60 10:4. OS «v 3. 50| 803.30 90 3. 85 70 3. 45 M 4. lO' 50,3.53 00 3. 95 90'3. 851 90;3. 90 0IH3. 83 83|3. 73 SO'3.50 60;:l. 60 803.80 10 4. lOj 80 3. 80; 90 3; 83 30 4. 110' 95.3. 95; 75 3. 85 10 4. 00 90 3.80; 80 3. 851 70,3. 50' ^3 18.30 18.75 13.60 16.00 16.90 18.33 17.30 10.30 16.60 18.73 16.00 16.70 17.75 13.30 18.30 16.30 Tail to end of— 7.60 8.30 6.95 6.30! 7.30 8.93 8.00, 8.30I 7.10 7.80i 6.30 6.6O1 8.001 6.30 7.83! 7.13 Length of- 10.00 3. 19.00!3. 9.8313. 9.80|9. 10.60 3. i 11.83 11.00 19.00 10.40 11.40 9.80 10.903. 11.60 10.10 10.60 10.133. 17. 60 7. 30 18. 3018.00! 18. 40!7. 80 17. 40 7. 90' 17. 40 7. 30; 16. ooh. 00! 16. 3017. 95 17. 90'7. 90 18.30 7.80 17.0017.95 17. 10 7. 40 18. 00'7. 15 17.007.10 17. 60 7. 75 17.50:7.50 17. 30 7. 60 17. 707. 33 13. 80 6. 90 10.90 19.00 11.303. 93 4. 43 L 40 404. to. ...| 703.33!l.3t) 903.63'!. 33, 80 3. 80' 1.901 104.3W.... 00 4. 301. ...I 104.401 1. 351 303. 6:.i 1.90; 104.10: 1. 60i 63 3. 80 1. 30: 80X80 904.30 003.00 934.43 1.63; 60 3L 70 1.401 104.»|L43: 004.91 101 10.70 10.30 9.90I3. 10. 00>3. 11. 10!3. 10. 8013. 10.9Sl3. 10. 703. 10. 353. 10. 3013. 11. 03a 11. 103. 10. 70 3. 9.853. 9. 80:3. I I.90I 1.90 3.034.1011.351 a U33I 104.90 1.40, 703.701 1.93! 73X73,1.301 034.101.30 154.10 1.35 004.101.60 004.00LS0 004.001.33 804.00L33 004.10L43 034. 90 1. 601 00 4. 9311.33! 0O4.1O1.3O| 63X701.40 I Fresh. ..do. ..do. ...do. ...do. ..do. ..do. ...do. ...do. ...do. ...do. ..do. ..do. ...do. ..do. ...do. ...do. ..do. . . .do. ...do. ...«io. ...do. ...do. ...do. ...do. ..do. ...do. ...do. ...do. ...do. ...du. ...do. ...do. ..do. "As recorded by the collectors on the Ia1>els of the specimens. > The foregoing table of careful fresh measuremeuts satisfac- torily indicates the average diuieusioos and range of variation of this species in the higher latitudes. The female is seen to be considerably smaller than the male on an average, though the dimensions of the sexes inosculate. The range is from 15^ to over 19 in length of head and body, with an average near 17^. The tail-vertebrte range from little over 6 to 8}, averaging near 7}. With the hairs, this member ranges from 9} to 12 inches, being generally about 11 inches. Etar from about I4 to If* generally about 1 ^. Fore toot 2f to 3f , settling near 3. Hind foot 3f to nearly 4}, generally a little over 4. These eztrem??.< it will be remembered, are those between the largest males and smallest females ; neither sex has so wide a range. VARIATION IN SKULLS OF MUSTELA AMERICANA. 89 OEOOBAPHIt'AL VABIATIGN IN THE SKULLS OF M. AMERICANA. Mr. J. A. AUeu has recently * given a table of measurement of length and breadth of forty-six skulls of this species, prepared to show the range of geographical variation. His results are here reproduced, together with his critical commentary on the specific validity of M. americana. It will be seen that he aban- dons his former t position, and endorses the distinctive charac- ters of the dentition of J/.U. niarteSf foina, and americana. The forty-siz male akulln of this npec.es. of which messuretueuts are given belovr are Liainly from four or tive localities ilifferi'ig widely in lati- tude. A comparison of the average size of a cousiderabld number from each shows a well-marked decrease in size soutbwanl. Four skulls from Peel River, the largest, and also from the most northerly lucnlity, have an aver- age length of 3.39, and an average width of 2.07, the extremes l)eing 3.50 and 3.35 in length and 2.12 and 2.02 in width. Nine skulls from the Yukon (prob- ably mostly from near Fort Yukon) give an average length of 3.34 and an aver- age width of 1.98, the extremes being 3.55 and 3.0U in length and 2.15 and 1.73 in width. Five skulls from Fort Good Hope give au average length of 3.24 and an average width of 1.95, the extremes in length being 3..37 and 3.15 and in width 2.05 and 1.73. Ten skulls from the uorthern shore of Lake Superior average 3.14 in length and 1.76 in width, the extremes iu length being 2.23 and 3.02 and in width 1.89 and 1.65. Eight skulls from the vicinity of Um- bagog Lake, Maine (Coll. Mus. Comp. Zool.), average 2.90 in length and 1.72 in width, the extremes in length being 3.10 and 2.73 and in width 1.85 and 1.50. Five skulls from Northeastern New York average 3'.02 iu length and 1.61 in width, the extremes being in length 3.10 and 2.92 and in width 1.69 and 1.50. There is thns a gradual descent in the average length from 3.39 to 3.02, and in width from 2.07 to 1.61. The largest and the smallest of the series are respectively 3.55 and 2.92 in length. Several fall as low as 3.00, and an equal number attain 3.50. The difference between the largest and the smallest, excluding the most extreme examples, is one-sixth of the dimen- sions of the smaller and one-seventh of the size of the larger. The sexes differ considerably in size, relatively about the same as in Puto- riuB vi$on; bnt the above generalizations are based wholly on males, and in each case on those of practically the same age, only specimens indicating mature or advanced age being used. The series of fully one hundred skulls of this species contained in the National Museum presents a considerable range of variation in details of structure, involving the general form of the skull, the relative size of differ- ent parts, and the dentition, especially the form and relative size of the last molar. In a former paper,| I had occasiou to notice somewhat in detail the variations in color our American Martens present, and the difficulty of find- * Bull. U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, vol. ii, no. 4, pp. 328-330 (July, 1876). t Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Cambridge, i, pp. 161-167 (Oct. 1869). t " Mammals of Massachusetts ", Bull. Mus. Comp. Zuol. vol. i, pp. lGl-167 (Oct., 1869). f f r: ' f I 90 NORTH AMERICAN &iJ8TELID.£. ing aD> fentiires of coloration that iMeuie3.30 3.00 3.38 3.38 3.30 3.37 3.35 3.« 3.35 3.15 3.50 3.37 3.:«5 X35 3.40 9.15 1.85 1.83 1.88 1.85 1.73 ifea' 9L03 3.05 1.98 1.93 1.76 1.73 3.0t S.13 Imperfect Imperfect. do. 6040 ilo 6085 do 1047 do.. 6044 ao • SASl do : R(M8 do 6046 do UOOOi TCfin&i AIbbUa .................... 7159 Fort noml Hone 7167 . do ■ ■...-. ....••....-...•• 7168 7164 ^. do - do 7163 ••do . k ,■.•..•..«.•••••.••••••• 6081 Peel River ..........•••......•.•. 60n . do 6063 605V do 3385 Red River 1.94 HISTOBY AND HABITS OP THK MABTEN. 91 MvanHrvmeHlt of forijf-»U tlulhof Mcatrla amrkicana— ConiiuiMd. II Locality. 4070 4tK 4«7S Lak« Su|>«iior (north ihorp) . , (lu , do do... do do .do. 4«78 4M1 1868 1163 3810 3018 9049 541 550 548 5M SB3 ^ M4 .do. .do. .il6. WaabiDKton Territory do do , do Eaaex Conoty, New York. ,do... i if of rf 9 03 iO 00 00 00 00 vo 93 13 Uauiarka. 1.79 I 1.69 . 1.09 I 1.69 I 1.83 { 1. c^ 1.80 I 1.69 i 1.83 I 1.90 I 1.79 1.59 1.57 1.63 1.68 1.90 1.68 1.89 1.70 1.79 1.74 1.78 1.78 1.68 1.50 Rntlier young. lio. du. GENERAL HISTORY AND HABITS OF ."HE SPECIES. According to the foregoiog considerations, tlie history of this iuterestiog auimal, one highly valuable iu an economic point of view, is to be disentangled from that of the Europeau and Asiatic species, with which it has always been to a greater or less degree intermixed. The first specific name, so far as I have become aware, is that bestowed iu 1S06 by Turton, in an edition of the 8y»tema Xaturw; if there be an earlier one, it has escaped me. This name, however, appears to have been generally overlooked, or at least unemployed, until of late years revived by Professor Baird. His usage of the term, however, has received but partial support, some of the later writers agreeing with the custom of earlier ones in referring our animal to the European Marten, from which, as I have shown, it is well distinguished. Previous to the appearance of Dr. Brandt's elaborate memoir, only one author, it seema^ among those who denied its specific validity, came so near the mark as to refer it to the Asiatic Sable. This was Dr. God- man, but even he used the name nnder the impression that the tarue Sable existed in America, as well as the Pine MarteOy. l\ 92 NORTH ASIEBICAN MUSTELIDiE. ;n ' ^' i ! wbich be refers to as .1/. Marten. As will be seen by refereooe to tbe list of synouyius, several uoiniQal species bave been established at tbe exi)euse of tbt* Aiu%riean Sable, ui>on slight individnal peculiarities. Tbe earliest of these is the M. tulpina of M. Rafiuesque, which re|>re.seots the occasional anomaly of tbe tail white-tipped, as alluded to by Mr. Ross in the article already quoted. A similar couditiou of the feet constitutes KubPs ilf. leucoput ; while the M. huro of F. Cnvier is appar- ently only light-colored individuals. Dr. Gray seeks to estab- lish these last two varieties, and adds another, ^1/. abietinoidetf based upon dark-colored examples, with the " tbroat-8|K)t large or broken up into small 8pot8'\ But these pretended species are not such, nor even as varieties are they entitled to more than passing allusion, as indicating to what extent some indi- viduals may depart from the usual style of coloration. Although the American animal was known in very early times, long before it received a distinctive name, having been referred alternately to tbe European Pine Marten and Asiatic Sable, or to both of these species, very little definite informa- tion upon its range and habits was recorded for many years. Pennant, our principal early authority on tbe animals of the North American fur countries, and tbe source of much subse- quent inspiration on these species, considered it tbe same as M, martes, and drew its range accordingly. He states that it inhabits, in great abundance, tbe northern parts of America, in forests, particularly of pine and fir, nesting in the trees, bringing forth once a year from two to four young ; that its food is principally mice, but also includes such birds as it can catch ; that it is taken in dead-falls, and sometimes eaten by the natives. As an article of commerce in comparatively early times, we notice the sale of some 13,000 skins in one year (1743) by tbe Hudson's Bay Company, and the importation from Can- ada by tbe French into Kochelle of over 30,000. *^ Once in two or three years,'' he adds, they " come out in great multitudes, as if their retreats were overstocked : this the hunters look on as a forerunner of great snows, and a season favorable to the chase." Such periodicity in numbers thus early noted is con- firmee! by later observi^tions. Sir John Richardson has tbe fuUowiug observations upon the distribution of tbe Sable in British America : *'Tbe Pine-martin inhabits the woody districts in tbe northern parts of America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in great numbers, and have HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE MARTEV. beeu observed to be particularly nbnmlanc where the trees have been killed by Are but are still staudiug. It is v^ry rare as Heame has remarked, iir the district lyiog north of Gharchill River, and east of Great Slave Lake, known by the name of Chepewyan or Barren Lands. A similar district, on the Asiatic side of Behring^s Straits, twenty-five degrees of longitude in breadth, and inhabited by the Tchutski, is described by Pen- nant as equally unfrequented by the Martin, and for the saui0 reason, — the want of trees. The limit of its northern range in America is like that of the womis, about the sixty-eighth degree of latitude, and it is said to be found as far south as New England. Particular races of Martins, distinguished by ohe fineness and dark colours of their Air, appear to inhabit certain rocky districts. Therocky and mountainous but woody district of the Nipigon, on the north side of Lake Superior, has long been noted for its black and valuable Martin-skins. . . . Upwards of one hundred thouBr.ad skins have long been collected annu- ally in the fur countries." But the range of the American Sable is now known to be more extended in both directions than appears from the fore- going. In some longitudes, at least, if not in all, it reaches the Arctic coast, as mentioned by Mr. B. R. Ross, and as attested by specimens I have examined. Mr. Ross states that it is found throughout the Mackenzie River District, except in the Barren lands, to which it does not resort, being an arboreal animal. It occurs abundantly in Alaska, apparently throughout that vast country ; and, in short, we cannot deny it a less highly Arctic extension than that of the Asiatic Sable. Along the Pacific side of the continent, west of the Rocky Mountains, the Sable has been traced to the Yuba River of California by Dr. J. S. Newberry, who represents it as not uncommon in Oregon ; and Dr. George Suckley procured specimens in Washington Terri- tory. Mr. J. A. Allen found the animal in Wyoming and Colo- rado, and considers it as common in the last- mentioned Territory in Park County. But however far south it may extend in such longitudes, there is apparently a great stretch of treeless country in which it is not found at all. I obtained no indications of its presence in any of the nnwooded portions of Dakota and Mon- tana, which I have explored with special reference to the dis- tribution of the Mammals and Birds. It is represented as coui- mon in Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. In New England, according to Dr. Emmons, writing in 1840, it M li ' t4 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. was ::oi Infrequent in tbe pine and beech forests of Massaoha- setts, and Mr. Alien states that it is still occasionally s^en in the moantaius of Berkshire Gountj. It itihAbits l^e raoantaio- oas regions of New York and some parts of Pennsylvania; bat in tracing its extreme southern limit in the Atlantic States, we see that it b^s not been found so far south as the Pekan has. I find no indication of its occnrfence in Maryland or Vir^nia. The southern limit, which hfis been set at abcnt 40° north, is probably correct for this longitude, though in the mountainous regions of the West it may require to be somewhat e&tended. Oeneral Considerations aside, its local distribution is determined primarily by the presence or absence of trees, and further affected by the settlement of the country. Being of a shy and suspicious nature, it is one of the first to disappear, among the Bmaller animals, with the advance of civilization into its woody resorts. In unpeopled districts, even the vast numbers that are annually destroyed fot the pelts seems to affect their abund- ance less materially than the settlement of the country does. Notwithstanding such destruction, they abound in the northern wilds. Even in Nova Scotia, a thousand skins are said to have been exported annually within a few years, and they may justly be regarded as among the most important of the land fur-bearing animals. Respecting their comparative scarcity at times, Mr. Boss has recorded a remarkable fact of periodical disappear- ance. ** It occurs in decades," he says, " or thereabouts, with wonderful regularity, and it is quite unknown what becomes of them. They are not found dead. The failure extendts through- -out the Hudson's Bay Territory at the same time. And there is no tract, or region to which they can migrate where we have not posts, or into which our hunters have not penetrated. . . . When they are at their lowest ebb in point of numbers, they will scarcely bite at all fat the bait of the traps]. Providence appears thus to have implanted some instinct in them by which the total destruction of their race is prevented." The Sable is ordinarily captured in wooden traps of very simple construction, made on the spot. The traps are a little enclosure of stokes or brush in which the bait is p^ced upon a trigger, with a short upright stick supporting a log of wood; the animal is shut off from the bait in any but tbe desired direction, and the log falls upon its victim with the slightest disturbance. A line of such traps, several to the mile, often extends many miles. The bait is any kind of meat, a mouse, HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE MARTEN. 9fi squirrelf piece of flsb, or bird's head. One of the greatest ob- staclei thftt the Sable huuter has to contend with in many looalitiee is the persistent destruction of his traps by Uie Wol- verene aod Pekan, both of which display great cunning and persererance io following ap his line to eat the bait, and even the SaUes themselves which may be captured. The exploits of these animals in this respect may be seen from the accoants elMwb«« given. I have accounts froi*^ Hudson's Bay trappers of a Sable road fifty miles long, containing 150 traps, every one of which was destroyed throughout the whole line twiee^^onoe by a Wolf, once by the Wolverene. When thirty miles of this same road was given up, the remaining 40 traps were broken five or six times in succession by the latter animal. The Sable is principally trapped during the colder mouths, from October to April, when the fur is in good condition ; it is nearly valueless daring the shedding in summer. Sometimes, however, bait is refused in March, and even early that month, probably with the coming on of the rutting season. The period of full furring varies both in spring and autumn, according to lati- tude, by about a month as an extreme. ^Notwithstanding the persistent and uninterrupted destruc- tion to which the Sable is subjected, it does not appear to diminish materially in numbers in unsettled parts of the coontry. The periodical disappearances noted by Mr. Boss and the animal's early retreat before the inroads of population are other matters. It holds its own partly in consequence of its shyness, which keeps it away from the abodes of men, and partly because it is so prolific; it brings forth six or eight young at a litter. Its home is sometimes a den under ground or be- neath rocks, but oftener the hollow of a tr<^e ; it is said to fre- quently take forcible possession of a Squirrel's nest, driving off or devouring the rightful proprietor. Though frequently called Pine Marten, like its European relative, it does not appear to be particularly attached to coniferous woods, though these are its abode in perhaps most cases, simply because such forests pre- vail to a great extent in the geographical areas inhabited by the Marten. The Sable is no partner in guilt with the Mink and Stoat in invasion of the farm-yard, nor will it, indeed, designedly take up its abode in the clearing of a settler, preferring always to take its chances of food supply in the recesses of the forest. Active, industrious, cunning, and predaceous withal, it finds ', ! 96 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. ample subsistence in tbe weaker Rodents, Insectivora, and birds and tbeir eggs. It bunts on tbe ground for Mice, which con* stitute a large share of its sustenance, as well as for Shrews, Moles, certain reptiles, and insects. An expert climber, quite at home in tbe leafy intricacies of tree tops, it pursues Squirrels, and goes birds'-nesting with success. It is said ^o also secure toads, frogs, lizards, and even fish. Like the Wolverene and Fekan, it sometimes makes an entrance upon the hoards of meat and fish which are cached by the natives in the higher latitudes. It is said not to reject carrion at times. It has been stated to- eat various nuts and berries, as well as to be fond of honey; but we may receive such accounts with caution, viewing the very highly carnivorous character of the whole group to which the species belongs. The Sable has some of tbe musky odor characteristic of its family, but in very "mild degree compared with the fetor of the Mink or Polecat. Hence the name " Sweet Marten ", by which its nearest European ally is known, in contradistinction from Fonlimart, or *' Foul Marten '', a name of the Polecat. With a general presence more pleasing than that of the spe- cies of PutorittSj it combines a nature, if not less truly preda- ceous, at least less sanguinary and insatiable. It does not kill after its hunger is appeased, nor does a blind ferocity lead it to attack animals as much larger than itself as those that the Stoat assaults with success. Animals like tbe Babbit and Squirrel form less of its prey than the smaller Rodents and Insectivores. In confinement, tbe Marten becomes in time rather gentle, however untamable it may appear at first ; it is sprightly, active, with little unpleasant odor, and altogether rather agreeable. CHAPTER IV. MUSTELINE— Continued: The Weasels. The genus Putoriiis — Generic characters and remark'j — Division of the genns into sabgenera — Analysis of the North American species — The subgenus Gale — Putorius vulgaris, the Common Weasel — Synonymy— Habitat— Spe- cific characters — Oeneral characters and relationships of the species — Geo- graphical distribution — Habits — Putorius erminea, the Stoat or Ermine — Synonymy — Habitat — Specific characters — Discussion of specific charac- ters and relationships — ^Table of measurements — Note on the skull and teeth — Description of external characters — Conditions of the change of color— General history and habits of the species — Its distribution in the Old World— Ptttortu* longicauda, the Long-tniled Weasel — Synonymy — Habitat— Specific characters — Description — Measurements — General ac- count of the species — Putorius hrasiliensis fre^iattis, the Bridled Weasel — Synonymy — Habitat — Specific characters— General account of the species. CONTINUING with the sabfamily Mustelinee, but passing from the genns Mmtela, we reach the next genus, Puto- riu8f which contains the true Weasels or Stoats (subgenus Oale), the Ferrets and Polecats (subgenus Putorius proper), the American Ferret (subgenus Opnomyonax), an SyMBOpm, Oray, Cat Mamm. Br. Mas. 1843. > Lntreola, ■' Wagntr ", Oray, P. Z. S. 1865, 117. (Type JftMtela {utrvoto L .) > eale, "Wagntr", Oray, P. Z. S. 1865, 118. > Neocsle, Oray, P. Z. & 1865, 114. (Type P. bratiHmuit.) > f 1801, €hray, P. Z. S. 1865, 115. (Type P. vison.) 3-S. Genkric characters.— DcMtol formula: I. ~j; C. i^ ; Pm. j^, M. 1=^ =11 =34 (one premolar above and below less than in Gu lo and Mus- tela). Seotorial tooth of lower jaw (anterior true molar) w ithoat an inter- 7m W r; : ,1' ■! 1' I Ji! 98 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. nal cusp. Anteorbital foramen presenting downward-forward (as in JifiM- tela; reverse of Gulo), a mere orifice, not oanal-lilce, and opening over ttie last premolar (tlie opening more anterior in Gulo and Mustela). Skull as a rule* little oontraoted at the middle ; the rostral portion extremely short, stout, turgid, scarcely tapering, and much more vertically truncated than in Gulo or Mustela; frontal profile convex, and usually more nearly horizontal than in Gulo or Mustela. Nasal bones widening forward from an acute base. General outline of skull in profile scarcely arched — sometimes quite straight and horizontal in most of its length. Production of mastoids and auditory buUte and general prominence of periotic region at a minimum ; the buUio flatter than in Mustela or Gulo, and sci cely so constricted across as to pro- duce a tubular meatus. Zygomatic arch usually not higher behind than in front, nowhere vertical uor developing a posterior convexity. Depth of emargination of palate little if any greater, or less than, distance thence to the molars. Skull as a whole more massive than in Mustela, though smaller. Size medium and very small (including the smallest species of the whole family). Body cylindrical, slender, often extremely so; legs very short; tail long, terete, uniformly bnshy or very slender and close-haired, with a terminal pencil. Ears large, orbicular. Soles commonly furry. Pelage usually close and short, whole-, or oftener, parti-colored ; turning white in winter in Northern species. Progression digitigrade. Habits indetermin- ate — terrestrial, arboreal, or aquatic. The foregoing characters are drawn up from consideration of the European and North American forms, and may require some qualification, in ultimate details, to cover all the modifi- cations of this extensive genus, containing, as it does, several sections or groups of speeies, probably of snbgeneric value. From Oulo or Mustela it is at once distinguished by the differ- ent dental fofmnla. The skull, as compared with that of its nearest ally, Mustela, differs notably in the shortness and bluntness of the muzzle, position and direction of the ante- orbital foramen, slight convexity of the upper profile, and other points noted above. There is a decided diffbrdnce in the char- acter of the auditory bullae, more readily perceived on compar- ison than described ; the bulla) are* usually less iiiflated — some- times quite dat, as in P. vison; and even when^ as in somie cases, the inflation of the basal portion is not much less than in Mustela, we miss the constriction ■ which in the latter genus produces a well-determined tubular meatus. The sknll of Pit- torius is decidedly heavier for its size than that of Mtistela, in this respecc more like that of Gulo, though it is comparatively much flattened and otherwise dissiihilar from the latter. The name of the genus is from the fjiatin putor, a stench * In some species of Putorius, however, the constriction is as great as is ever found in Mustela. ANALT8IS OP THE 0ENU8 PUTORIUS. n {pnteo, to stink), as on^of its synonyms, Feetoriusy is from fcetoVf fceteoj of the ^^e signification. The relation of the EngMsh putridffetid^ &c., is obvious. The extensive genus Put. 8. N. eds. 3d-5tli, 1740-47, U.—KUin, ( jii»d. 1751, m.—Jontl. Tbeatr. 1755, 153, pi. 64.— Brt«(. Quad. 1756, 341, no. \.—Erxl. Syst. Auim. 1777, 471, no. 13 (synon. luuchmixedwitbthatof other »^ao\ei»).—Hehreh. SUug. Hi. 1778.— 6m. S. K. i. 1788,99.— Bechtt. Xitturg. i. , 813.- Turt. S. X. i. 1806, 61.— De«m. Mamm. i. 1830, 179, no. 375; Konv. Diet. xix. 373; Knoy. M6tli. pi. 84,f. \.—Fr. Ouv. Diet Soi. Kat. xxix.1833. 351, uo. 7.— ft. Geo/. Dlot.Cla»a. x. 313.— £<■««. Mau. 1827, 146.— F»*cA. 8yn.l839, 333.- FI«m. Dr. An. 1838, n.—Jen. Br. Vert 1835, 19.— Bell, Br. Quad. 1837, 141 ; 3d ed. 1874, 183. f. — .- Selyt-L. Fn. fielg. 1843, 10.— Gray, List Matntu. Br. Mus. 1843, Si.—Oieb. SSug. 1855, 783.— Fits. Natarg. Saug. i. 1861, 335, f. 69.— Wov. Cat. Br. Mas. 1863, i>3.—Farwiek, Zool. Gart. xi V. 1873, 17 (albino) . JMnteU vulgaris a. ieUlr», ff. nivallii, '7m. S. X. i, 1788, 99, nos. 11 a, 11 b. Vlverrn VUlgarlN, Shaw, O. X. i, 1800, 420, pi. 98, apper Hg. Mustela (dale) vulgaris, ScftiH;,Syn.Mamm.i.l844,344.-0my,P. Z.S. 1865, 113; Cat. Carn. Br. Mus. 1860, 00. Putortus vulgaris. Griff. An. Kiugd. v. 1837, 13l, no. 344 (bat not same name on p. 130, no. y39).—Brandt, Wirb. Eur. N. E. Bussl. , 36. FoetoriUH vulgaris. Keys. cC Blai. Wirb. Eur. 1840, 69, no. 147.— £;«r«. Wirb. Deutitchl. 1857, ^l.—Jtiekel, Zool. Gart xiv. 1873, 4%; (albino). Mustela nivalis, Unn. Fn. SuecSd ed. 17ei, 7, no. 18; S. N. i. 1766, 69, no. II.— mUl. Zool. Prod. 1776, 3, no. li.—Erxl. Syst An. 1777, 476, no. U.—Sehreb. Siiug. ili. 1778, pL 138.— BeU. Kon. V^et. Akad. Stockh. vi. 1785, 213, no. 9, pi. l.—Leg». Man. 1837, 146. Mustela gale, raU. Zoog. B.-A. i. 1831, 94, no. 32. Belette, Brim. op. et loe. eit.—Buff. Hist. Xat. vli. 225, pi. 29, f. l.—Bomare., Diet. 1. 1768, 368.— fVen«A.— Mareot, Marcotte, French. VOMMvn Weesel, Penn. Syn. Quad. 1771, 313, no. 151 ; Brit Zool. i. , 95, pi. 7, f. n.—Shaio, op. loe. cit.— Weasel or Weesel, English. Scheenwiesel, Mull. Xaturs. i. 1776, 276 (= M. nivalis). Wiesci, Klelne WIeSel, German (of. v. Martens, Zool. Gart xi. 1870, p. 376, philological).— Wezel, Belffie.—y'tewl, LiekatI, I>an{«A.— Mneemuus, Danish (whit«).— Saonus, Swedish (white).— Ballottula, Italian.— Com»irti», Spanish. (6. American resfereruses.) Mustela nivalis, Forst. Phil. Tr. Ixii. 1772, 373. Mustela vulgaris. Earl. Fn. Amer. 1. 1825, 6l.—Maxi,n. Reise, ii. 1641, m.-Thomp$. K. H. Verm. 1853, JO.— Hall, Canad. Xat and Geol. vi. 16U1, 295. Mustela (Futorius) vulgaris, RUh. v. b.-a. i. 1829, 4S. Putorlns vulgaris, Emm. Rep. Quad. Mass. 1840, 44.— >i2;.Pr. Bost.Soc. xiii. 18C9, 183; Bnll. M. C. Z. L 1870, 167. Mustela (Gale) vulKaris var. americana. Gray, P. Z. S. 186.'>, 113 ; Cat Can. Br. Mas. 1869, 91. Mustela pusllla, De K. N. Y. Zool. L 1843, 34, pi. 14, f. l.—Beesley, Geol. Cape May, 1857, 137. Futorius pusillus. And. A Bach. Q. K. A. iL 1851, 100, pL 64.— £d. M. K. A. 1857, \33.—8uea. N. H. W. T. 1860, 9St.—Bam. Rep. Mass. Agric. for 18C1 (1862), 154, pL 1, f S, 4.— JfoxiM. Aroh.Xaturg.1861,— ; Vcrz. X.Am. Siiug. 1862,4!).— i?OA«, Canad. Xat and Geol. vi. 1861, 441.— Jfcrriam, Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. 1872, 661 (Idaho).— ilme«, BaU. Minn. Acad. Xat Soi. 1874, 69. Futorius "CiCOgnanr*, Rich. Zool. Beeohey's Voy. 1839, 10* (err.). Comnion Weesel, Penn. Hist Qaad. 1781, no. 193; Arct Zoiil. i. 1784, 75, no. 35. Hab. — In America, the northern portions of the United States and north- vrard. Earope and Asia, northerly. U. 8. Cteologloil Survey. MaiteUda. PLATE VI. •rias ermlneii. Figs. 1. 3, 5, 6. ) ^^^^ g,^^. j lorlii* vnli^nrla. Figs. 8, !. S ' Put Fnlorln* CUABIOTEBS OF PUT0RIU8 VULGARIS. 103 SPKCiric CHARACTERS.— Very amall ; length of head and body 6 or 6 inches ; of tail-vertebrn) 2 inches or lem; tnil-verlebnc nboiit one-fourth or lewi of the head and body; tail slender, oylindrical, pointed at tip, which is con- color or not obvionsly black ; nnder parts white, rarely, if ever, tin|;eecimenH as these last before us (strictly representing P. pmiUun of Audubon and Bachnian), there might be littlcditliculty in distinguishing at least an American race; but, as already indicated, such distinctions disappear on examining larger series, and consequently fail to substantiate a geographical race. Whatever minute discrep- ancies may be noted in comparing certain American with cer- tain other European examples, assuredly these do not hold throughout the series ; and, moreover, the diflferences inter m between animals of either continent are as great as any of those which can be detected when the animals of the two continents are compared. Thus, holding in my hands the Ynkon speci- men and No. 2290, from Leeds, England, I find that I have in- con testably the same species. In size and color, these two are much more nearly identical than Nos. 2290 and 2279, the latter being also from Leeds. The Yukon animal has, indeed, a bushy tip to the tail ; but, again, the one from Moose Factory has not. A specimen from Scotland (No. 1058} has proved susceptible of overstuffing up to more than 10 inches for length of head and body ; but No. 2290 was scarcely 7 inches long. The presence of true M. vu^aris on our continent may be considered estab- lished. So that the question practically narrows tb whether we have not also an additional species. This I cannot admit ; for if minute differences of the grade allowed to distinguish a supposed ^^pusillus " be taken into account, we must, to be con- sistent, also separate from this latter the specimen from Oregon.t with its longer blackish-tipped tail, and so have three North * Reliable European writers assign a length of about 8 inches of head and body, the head If, the tail 2. The female is usually an inch, if not more, smaller than the male. tThis furnishes a case parallel with that of Henperomya "boylii" and H. " aiisterus". There is a strong local intlueuce exerted upon various animals in this region. OEOOBAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF P. YULOARIS. 105 AmeiioaD ^'speoief)'' of the vulgaHx t.vpe, namely, rulgnrh m attested by the Yukon siteciinen ; ^^itusillm ", as by the Hudson's Bay example and others ; and a nameless Oregon species. We should obviously be reduced to this dilemma in any such at- tempt to describe Hpecimem instead of characterising s]>ecies. And in determining our species and races, it is quite sufHcient to note the minor variations from a common type without giv- ing the subjects of such variation a name. Nevertheless, as it is desirable to carry investigations of the characters of animals into minute particulars, fh» following summary is presented : — Var. 1. An animal averaging slightly less than P. vulgaris of Europe, with the end of the tail blackish. Alaska, &c. Var. 2. Bather smaller than the last; the tail relatively longer (vertebrto about two inches) and distinctly dusky-tipped. Ore- gon and Washington Territories. Var. 3. Very small — about six inches long; tail-vertebrro one inch or less; color darker than in P. vulgarin, but tail concolor. Hudson's Bay, &c. Oeographical distribution. The area over which this species turns white in winter may be approximately deduced from the accounts of various au- thors. This is nearly coincident with what is now known of the American range of the animal. Mr. J. A. Allen states that it tarns in northern New England, but not so far south as Massachusetts, where the change sometimes, but not always, occurs to P. erminea. Dr. De Kay denies any change in New York, though I suspect this may not hoU^ for the northern mountainous portions of the S^ate. According to Maximilian, the change takes place in the region he explored, as it doubt- less does in all higher latitudes. The range of the Least Weasel extends entirely across the continent on this hemisphere ; but its north and south disper- sion are less definite, in the present state of our knowledge. To the northward, Richardson formerly limited its extension to the Saskatchewan; but my specimens, from the Yukon, Fort Resolution, and Hudson's Bay, largely extend the sup- posed range, and I infer that the animal is generally distrib- uted in British America and Alaska. Audubon's examples were from the Gatskills and Long Island; and this author alludes to others from Lake Superior. The Bed Biver and r jr 111 106 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiG. Upper Missouri regions, Oregon and Washington Territory, are other recorded localities. According to Mr. Allen, it is rather rare in Massachusetts — much more so than P. erminea. The total lack of citations of the species from Southern or even Middle districts in the United States is in evidence, though of a negative character, of the geographical distribution at pres- ent assigned. , Habits. Cur accounts of the habits of this animal are lamentably meagre; nor can I add to them from personal observation. De Kay says it is by no means a rare animal, but one difficult to capture ; that it feeds on mice, insects, young birds, eggs, &c., and possesses al! the rapacity characteristic of the tribe. Audubon repeats this, in substance, with the inference that, ow;ing to its small size, it would not be mischievous in the poultry-house, and would scarcely venture to attack a full- grown Norway Rat. In this dearth of facts respecting the animal in America, we turn to other authors. One of the most particular, and at the same time interesting and apparently reliable accounts, is that given by Thomas Bell (who was evidently familiar with the aiiimal) in the work above cited. Comparing its habits with those of the Stoat, Bell finds them considerably distinct, and believes that the accusations current against the Weasel should mostly be laid rather at the door of the Stoat. He continues : — "It is not meant to be asserted that the Weasel will not, when driven by huiiger, boldly attack the stock of the poultry yard, or occasionally make free with a young rabbit or sleep- ing partridge ; but that its usual prey is of a much more igno- ble character is proven by daily observation. Mice of every description, the Field and Water Vole, rats, moles, and small birds, are their ordinary food ; and from the report of unpre- judiced observers, it would appear that this pretty animal ought rather to be fostered as a destroyer of vermin, than ex- tirpated as a noxious depredator. Above all, it should not be molested in barns, ricks or granaries, in which situations it is of great service in destroying the colonies of mice which infest them. Those only who have witnessed the multitudinous num- bers in which these little pests are found, in wheat-ricks espe- cially, and have seen the manner in which the interior is drilled, as it were, in every direction by their runs, can at HABITS OF THE WEA8EL. 107 all appreciate the amoant of their depredations ; and s .rely the occasional abduction of a chicken or duckling, supposing it to be even much more frequently chargeable against the Weasel than it really is, would be but a trifling set off against the benefit produced by the destruction of those swarms of little thieves. « The Weasel climbs trees with great facility, and surprises birds on the nest, sucks the eggs, or carries off the young. It has been asserted that it attacks and destroys snakes; this, however, I believe to be entirely erroneous. I have tried the experiment by placing a Weasel and a sommon )jnake together in a large cage, in which the former had tut? opportunity of retiring into a small box in which it w is accustomed to sleep. The mutual fear of the two animals kept them at a respectful distance from each other; the snake, however, exhibiting quite as much disposition to be the assailant, as its more formidable companion. At length the Weasel gave the snake an occa- sional slight bite on the side or on the nose, without materially injuring it, and evidently without any instinctive desire to feed upon it; and at length, after thc^ had remained two or three hours together, in the latter part of which they appeared almost indifferent to each other's prt;>ence, I took the poor snake away and killed it. <* Far different was this Weasel's conduct when a Mouse was introduced into the cag'<>; it instantly issued from its little box, and, ia a moment, one single bite on the head pierced the brain and laid the Mouse dead without a struggle or a cry. I have observed that when the Weasel seizes a small animal, at the instant that the fatal bite is inflicted, it throws its long lithe body over its prey, so as to secure it should the first bite fail ; an accident, however, which I have never observed when a Mouse has been the victim. The power which the Weasel has of bending the head at right angles with the loug and flexible, though powerful neck, gives it g^eat advantage in this mode of seizing and killing its smaller prey. It also frequently assumes this position when raising itself on its hinder legs to look around. " The disposition which has been attributed to the Weasel of sucking the blood of its prey, has, I believe, been generally much exaggerated. Some persons have positively denied the existence of such a propeimity, and my own observation, as far as it goes, would tend ti confirm that refutation of the com- I»l 108 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. monly received notion. The first gripe is given on the head, the tooth in ordinary cases piercing the brain, which it is the Weasel's first act of Epicurism to eat clean from the skall. The carcase is then hidden near its haunt, to be resorted to when required, and part of it often remains until it is nearly putrid. " The Weasel pursues its prey with facility into small holes, and amongst the close and tangled herbage of coppices, thick- ets and hedge-rows. It follows the Mole and the Field Mouse in their runs; it threads the mazes formed in the wheat- rick by the colonies of Mice which infest it, and its long fiexi- ble body, its extraordinary length of neck, the closeness of its fur, and its extreme agility and quickness of movement, com- bine to adapt it to such habits, in which it is also much aided by its power of hunting by scent — a quality which it partakes in equal degree with the Stoat. In r.ursuing a rat or a mouse, therefore, it not only follows it us L^ug as it remains within sight, but continues the chase after it has disappeared, with the head raised a little above the ground, following the exact track recently taken by its destined prey. Should it lose the scent, it returns to the point where it was lost, and quarters the ground with great diligence till it has recovered it ; and thus, by dint of perseverance, will ultimately hunt down a swifter and even a stronger animal than itself. But this is not all. In the pertinacity of its pursuit, it will readily take the water, and swim with great ease after its prey. " It is, however, sometimes itself the prey of hawks, but the following fact shows that violence and rapine, even when ac- companied by superior strength, are not alwn v^> The Temale Weasel .... brings forth fonr, or more fre- quently Ave young, and is said to have two or three litters in a year. The nest is composed of dry leaves and herbage, and is warm and dry, being usually placed in a hole in a bank, in a dry ditch, or in a hollow tree. She will defend her young with the utmost desperation against any assailant, and sacrifice her own life rather than desert them ; and even when tbe nest is torn up by a dog, rushing out with great fury, and fastening upon his nose or lips." The signification of the name ' Weasel -, or, as it is also some- times written, ^WeesePy is obscure. Webster states that he does not know the meaning, but observes that the German ^wiese^ is a meadow. Yon Martens, as quoted on p. 26, dis- cusses the subject in its philological bearings. The name 'WeaseP in strictness should pertain to the present species, as distinguished from its various larger allies, as the Stoats and Fer- rets ; but it has come to have rather a generic application to the various species of the same immediate group. The iStoat or Ermine. Pntorlaii (Gale) erinfnea. Plate VI, Figb. 1, 3, 5, 8, 7. (a. Oeneral r^ereneet.) Mus pontlcus, queid hodle Toeait HermeUm, Ayrie, "De Anim. Sabter. 16U, 33". Mustela Candida, h'hwene^f. " Theriotroph. 1603, lie ". MusteU caidiiA la extrea* MUdA alsrlMis, .IMrov. "Quad. Digit 1645, 310, fig ". Mttsteia alpln* csHdid*, Wagn. " Hist Nat Helvet 1660, 180' . MuslelA Candida «. animal Emlnenni reoeatiorna, Bay, " Syn. Quad. 1693, 198 ". MuBtcIa alba, Rzacz. " PoIod. 1731, 335 ". Mnstela caudie aplce atro, Linn. Fn. Saeo. lat ed. 1746, 3, na 90. Mustela Candida t. ermlacam, Linn. Syat Nat eds. 6tb, 7.tli, 1748, 5, no. 6. Mr tela araelliaa, KUin, "Qaad. 1751, 63 ". Mnstela alvea aarikas aafastU, caadc aplce algro, HiU, " Hiat Anim. 1758,548 ". Mutela hlcBie allM, lestale aapra ratlia lafra alba, caadie aviee aigro, Bri$§. Quad. 1756,348. Mnstela ermlaea, Unn. Maa. Adolpb. Frid. lat ed. 1754, 5 ; S. N. i. lOtti ed. 1758, 46, na 9 ; Fn. Sueo. Sd ed. 1761, 6, na 17; Syat Kat 13tb ed. i. 1766, 68, na 10.— flout. Katunrl. Hist. iii. 1761, 906, pL 14, £5.— A G. OmA. Reise, iL 1770, pL S3 (erminmmmajut).— Mm. Zool. Dan. Prod. 1776, 3, na U.—Brxl. Syst An. 1777, 474, na 13.—8chreb. S&ug. iU. 1778, ^96, pi. 137, A, B.—Zimtn. Geogr. Oesoh. IL 1780, 308, na 305.— &m. S. N. i. 1788, 98, no. 10.— florm. Obs. ZottL 45.- £«ciU(. Katnrg. ;. , Wt.—Turt. S. N. L 1806, 61.— Pall. Zoog. B..A. L 1831, 90, no. 31 {ermitteum),—JDetm. Mamm. i. 1890, 180, na 977 ; Kouv. Diet, xix, 376; Enoy. M«tb. pL 83, f. 9, 3.—Fr. Ouv. Diet Soi. Nat xxiz, 1893,950— Ii. Geo/. Diet CbMs.x. 919. -J>M. Man. 1837, 146.— Kcoft. Syn. 1890, 999.— i'fem. Br. Ad. 1898, 13.— .Ten. Br. Vert 1835^ 13.— BeU, Br. Quad. 1837, 148 ) 9d ed. 1874, 191, flg.- Selyt-L. Fn. Belg. 1843, 10.— Oray, List Mamm. Br. Mas. 1843, 6i.-8Miu, Syn. Mamm. L 1844, 349.— AeAreiwJfc. Beise AmnrL , W.—Oi«b. Sttug. 1855, 781.— 0«rr. Cat Bones Br. Mas. 1869, 03.—9HU, Zo(d. Oart iii. 1869, 938— tfray, P. Z. S. 1865, HI i Cat. Cam. Br. Mas. 1869. 88. 110 NORTH AlfERICAN MUSTELIDJ!:. MMstklS e^HlBMl a. mi T*, b. IjrKen*, am. S. N. i. 176S, 98, noa. lOo, lOfr. Tlverr* eralnra, /STAkw, "^a. Zodl. L I8OO, 49«, pi. 99. PHtorlM eralHM, Orif, An. Klngd. V. 18-27, 123, no. 345.— Oi««n, Br. Fosa. Hamm. , 116, f. 40, 41, 48 (sknll).— Brand;. Wlrb. Eur. K. E. Rusal. ,94. FatorlHS eralasil, Keyi.«nn. Brit Z^oSL — ,84.— Engliih. BOMlet (summer), Fi-eneh.—\nU%o, AmelllM, jrpanifft.— AmclllBO, itotian.— Lekatt, Swedish.— Qronostf, Poligh.-GnrutmM, Ruttian. {b. Ameriean rtifereneet.) a. erminea. < HlUteU erninea, Font. PbiL Traiia. Ixii. 1772, 373.— Ifarton, Fn. Amer. 1825, 62.— Oodman, Am. N. H. L 1831, 193.— TAomps. N. H. Verm. 1853, 31.— fliiU, Canad. Kat and OeoL yL 1861, 295. Mustela ermlOM var. amerimna, Qray, P. Z. S. 1865, 111; Cat Cam. Br. Mna. 1869, 89. PatoriUS ermtnea, Aui. it Baeh. Q. N. A. iL 1851,56, pL59.— r Wood. Sitgr. Rep. 1853,44 (Indian Territory).— AU. Bull M. C. Z. L 1870, 167 (critical).— 2tiUinj;«, Canad. Kat and OeoL iL 1857, 455 (biographical).— AUen, Pr. Boat Soo. K. H. xiiL 1869, 183. PutorlUB noTeboraeensls, De Kay, Rep. K. Y. Survey, 1840, 18; K. Y. ZooL iL 1842, 36, pL 12, f 2 (winter) and pL 14, f. 2 (aammer).- fmfmww, Rep. Quad. Maaa. 1840, 45.— Bd. M. K. A. 1857, 166, pi. 36, f. 3 (skull).- f «nn. Tr. HL State Agrio. Soo. 1853-4, 578.-Bo««, Canad. Kat and GeoL tL 1861, 441.— J/emm. Arch, t Katurg. 1861, 220.- Ferz. K. A. Sftug. 1862, U.—Gapin, Tr. Kov. Scot lust iL 1870, 15, SO.— Sam. Ann. Rep.lMaaa. Agric. fur 1861, 1862, 156, pL 1, f. 1.— Amet, BulL Minn. Acad. Kat ScL 1874, 69. 0. eicognani.) MHBtela (Putorlag) erailnea, Bieh. F. B. A. L 1839, 46. Mustela erninea. Thompi. K. H. Vermont, 1853, 31. Mustela cIcogBaal, ^. Charleaw. Mag. ii. 1838, 37; Fn. Ithl. 183^ auk M. boeeamda.— Wiegm. Arch. 1839, 423.— Oray, Cat Mamm. Br. Mna. 195. PntorlUS elcasil«al,Bd. M. K. 4. 1857, 161.— Aieftloy, P. R. R. Rep. xiL pt iL 1859, 92.— 0^>m, Tr. Kov. Soot Inst iL 1870^ 13, 50.— ifoin. Ann. Rep. Maaa. Agrie. fbr 1861, 1862, pL 1, f. 6. Miutela richanlsoal, Bp. Charleaw. Mag. ii. 1838, 38 (baaed on Richardaon).— Ofay, P. Z. S. 1865, 118: Cat Carn. Br. Mas. 1860, 90. PutOPlM rlUMmlSOBt, JUak. Zo«L Beeohey'a Voy. 1839, 10*.— Bd. M. K. A. 1857, 164.— <7roy. Cat. Mamm. Br. Mna. 195.- <8am. Rep. Maaa. Agrio. for 1861, 1868, 158, pL 1, f. 3, 5, 7.— Bow, Canad. Kat MdtJeoL vL 1861, 441.-do oS 00**0 ^^ J II I >• «i i-i sl ei ei ei «-* p4 ^ ^*J^^ deidcieiosi •o•o•b^D•D•D•o ^iJ 1^ II S2 MSS€ •is '-■g J'3 >•« bCS>3'Oi3'* S o^-S^-fi^'S ■jaqtnna ivoiSpo 1 b ' !l2 IS so eietSSSedp S^tiSS^KS'l .a 3 .9 I a I IS i a 116 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. ■!T i J yote on the skull and teeth. Skull and teeth. — A deccriptioD of tbe cranium and dentition of ibis typical species will answer well for that of the subgenus Oale (see p. 09). The skull, though strong, is smooth in its gen- eral superficies, lacking almost entirely the sagittal ridge and roughness of muscular attachment which characterize the crania of the larger forms, like fuetidus and rison for instance. The forehead is turgid and convex in profile ; the muzzle very short, swollen, and nearly vertically truncate. The zygomata are very slender, regularly arched throughout; the anterior root is a thin flaring plate, perforated by a large foramen anteorbitale. The cranium proper is peculiarly cylindrical rather than ovoidal; tbe postorbital constriction is abrupt, though slight. Supra- orbital processes are moderately developed. The palatal emar- gination is slight; the pterygoids send out a spur to embrace the adjacent foramen, and terminate roundly, without a hama- lar process, so conspicuous in the larger Putorii and in Muatela, or with only a slight one. The bullai auditorio) are very large, llattisb, parallel rather than divergent, and not in the least produced into a tubular meatus; on the contrary, the orifice of the meatus shows from below as an emargination. The glen- oid fossie have so prominent a hinder edge thr.t they seem to present forward rather than downward. The teeth scarcely furnish occasion for remark, as they pre- sent no peculiarities. In a specimen before me, the' middle upper premolar of the right side has failed to develop. This is rather a large tooth to thus abort. Among the incisors (much as elsewhere in this subfamily), various irregularities are observable in different specimens, owing to the crowded state of these small teeth. (For cranial and dental peculiarities as compared with longieauda, see beyond.) Description of tJie external characters. A general description of this animal, herewith given, neces- sarily^ embraces many points shared with its congeners. It may be taken in amplification of the generic characters already given, and serve as a standard of comparison for other species, in the several accounts of which a repetition of non-essential specific characters is by this means avoided. In general form, the Stoat typifies a group of carnivorous Mammals aptly called ' vermiform ', in consideration of the ex- treme length, tenuity and mobility of the trunk, and shortness 1 / / CHARACTERS OP PUT0RIU8 ERMINKA. 117 of the limbs. Tbis olongution is specially observable iu tbe neck, the head being set exceptionally far in front of the shoul- ders. The trunk is nearly cylindricp.1 : it scarcely bulges in tbe region of tbe abdominal viscera slopes a little over the haunches, rises slightly about the shoulder muscles, is a little contracted behind those; the neck is but little less in calibre than the chest. The greatest circumference of body is little more than half its length. The head is shorter than the neck ; it is notably depressed, especially flattened on the coronal area and under tbe throat ; it is broad across the ears, whence it tapers with convex lateral outline along the zygomatic region, thence contracting more rapidly to tbe snout. The bulging of the sides of tbe head is in great measure due to the bulk of the temporal and masset- eric muscles, which form swollen masses meeting on the median vertical line. This also contributes to the flattening of the frontal outline. The width of the head across the ears is about two-thirds its length. The eyes are rather small, situated mid- way between the nose and ears; they glitter with changing hues, and contribute, with the low forehead and protruding canine teeth, to a peculiarly sinister and ferocious physiognomy. The ample gape of the mouth, thin-lipped, reaches to below the eyes. The nasal pad at the extremity of the muzzle, is entirely and definitely naked; it is obscurely marked with a median furrow. • Tbe nostrils are small, circular, with a lateral projec- tion below. The ears are conspicuous, rising high above the short surrounding fur ; they are rounded in contour, about as wide across as high above the notch. Most of the auricle is flat and closely furred both sides. The rim completes about three-fifths of the contour. There is a conspicuous lobule reaching half-way up the border behind. The concavity of tbe vestibule is slight, naked, but hidden by a close-pressed pencil of long, upright hairs from the base of tbe auricle in front, ex- tending nearly to tbe top of the ear. Tbe back of the ear is on the occipital cross- line. Tbe whiskers are few but long, tbe longest reaching far be- yond the head. A few shorter, very slender bristles spring over tbe eye and on the malar region. The short forelimb is stout, and not fairly separated from the body much above the elbow. The forearm tapers rapidly to tbe wrist, causing tbe feet to appear slender in comparison, though they are really relatively stouter than in many unguiculate [ 11.1 ii i 118 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELlDiE. animals. From the wrist the feet are little shorter than the forearm ; they are broad and depressed. The 3d-4th digits are subeqaal and longest; the 2d-5th are subequal and shorter to the extent that their claws scarcely or not reach the base of the claws of the longer digits. The thumb is much shorter still. All the digits are alike clawed. The claws are moderately developed as to length, stoutness, and curvature ; though not properly retractile, they remain sharp, and serviceable for climb- ing, though probably not effective weapons on the chase. The back of the hand is always full furred, the hairs reaching about to the ends of the claws; the terminal and marginal hairs have a peculiar stiff bristly character, different from that of the gen- eral pelage. But the furring of the feet, no less than the general character of the pelage, is very largely dependent in quantity and quality upon season and latitude. In the most boreal specimens, in winter, the whole foot is densely hairy, like that of a Polar Hare or Ptarmigan ; no trace of palmar tubercles is seen. In southern and summer examples, the foot-pads are usually distinctly visible ; and this is their character : there are ten rounded balls on Ve foot ; one at the end of each digit (5), four on the palm ne at the wrist (10). The latter is far back, and nearly mc^iau, commonly overhung with fur. There is one at the base of respectively the 1st, 2d, and 5th digits ; and another larger, like two bulbs in one, at the bases of the 3d and 4th digits. The four strictly plantar pads are close together, without intervening hairy spaces; that on the wrist, like those on the ends of the digits, are isolated. The hind limbs repeat the characters of the fore, in their stoutness, taper, and little discrimination of the upper portion from the trunk. The resemblance extends to the feet, which are almost duplicates of the hands in size, shape, and in rela- tive lengths of the digits. The same conditions of furring occur; the tuberculation is likewise the same, except that a tubercle corresponding to the tenth one ab »ve enumerated is not found. But the length of the foot from heel to end of toes is about half as much again as that of the fore foot. The tail is of moderate length. In proportion to the length of head and body, it is rarely if ever so short as in P. vulgaris^ or so long as in P. Unt^cauda. The vertebral portion, not includ- ing that which runs into the body to join the sacrum, will probably average between f and ^ the length of the body and head; with the hairs, the proportion is about ^f. This num- 1 1 C!IAP.ACTfiRS OF PUTORIUS ERMINEA. 119 bur U cyliudrioal, with some eulargement of the brunUy black tii>, and well furred throughout. The terminal pencil of hairs, an iuuh and a half or two inches in length, commonly repre- sents about half the length of the vertebral portion, and more than half the length of the part that is black. Uut no other portion of animars frame is so variable as this. Of the general character of the pelage of this prixed " fur- bearing" animal, it would be useless to speak otherwise than us a zoiilogist. Those differences which tue whims of imperious fashion render all-important in the co* imercial world have no further interest for us than inasmuch as they indicate the variable conditions resulting from season, climate, or particular locality. Nevertheless, these points are evident to the prac- tised eye when not altogether obscured by the furrier's art. The rule is increase in softness, fineness, and density with increase of latitude, and during the winter in all latitudes. During summer and to the southward, the fur is stiffer, thinner, and of the particular harsh gloss which comes from admixture with longer bristly hairs — something different from the smooth soft sheen of the opposite condition. In specimens from the same regions, there is also observed a difference according to freshness or worn condition of the coat, according to vigor of the animal, and doubtless other causes. In its summer dress, the Stoat is a good example of a " bicolor'' pattern of coloration. The upper parts are continuously and uniformly of one color, the under of another, with strict line of demarcation of the two. The color above ranges, according to locality, season, or still more fortuitous circumst^Lces (as, for example, age of the particular coat and health of the individ- ual), from a rather light dull " yellowish " brown, to a rich dark mahogany brown, not very different from that of a Muskrat or Mink. The tail, excepting the black brush, agrees in color. The shade is nearly uniform, though an intensified dorsal area may oftea or usually be traced. Below, the animal is white, almost invariably tiilged with sulphury-yellow — often of a decidedly strong shade of t}"';^ color. Exceptional specimens aside, we may say, in round ter J9S, the animal is sulphury-yellow below — not white, as in P. vu{; v. ^ nor salmon nor buffy, as in P. longieauda or P. frenata. The chin, throat, and insides of the legs are usually excepted from this sulphury discoloration, being quite purely white. The tail is invariably black-tippet*, to the extent and in the manner already sufficiently indicated. 120 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. Now, as to the details of coloration, especially the line of demarcation of the two bod3'-coIors, we must remember, in the beginning, th^.^ we here have an animal which, under ordinary conditions, turns entirely while once every year, and resumes its bicoloration as often ; that consequently we must expect to find skins showing every possible step of the transition ; and that, moreover, various odd little matters of coloration arecer* tain to appear in different oases. Taken in its perfected sum- mer dress in average latitudes, the animal ordinarily shows a line of demarcation, beginning at the snout, involving the edge of the upper lip, running thence straight along the side of the head and neck to the shoulder ; there dipping down the fore edge of the limb to the paw, returning on the opposite border of the limb, running thence nearly straight to the hind leg, dipping down the outside of this also, returning to the perinioum, there meeting its fellow. The tail all around and upper surfaces of the paws are like the back. A slight lower- ing of this line would leave the end of the muzzle and the whole upper lip dark, as is frequently the case, showing how absurd are any distinctions based on ''araonnt of white on the upper lip". The line also frequently encroaches upon the belly, narrowing the sulphury band. But, as might be anticipated, the chief deviations from this complete summer dress are in the other direction — lessening of dark area. The commonest point here is whiteness of the paws, the dark spurs stopping at the wrist and ankle. Another common state is whiteness of the anal region and under surface of the tail. Frequently light patches reach irregularly up the sides of the head, par- ticularly about the ears. These points may be witnessed in midsummer, and appear to be purely fortuitous — that is, not traces of the regular change. Coming now to this matter of the change, we find it under several aspects. I am not now speaking of the mode of change, but of the appearances presented at different stages. A fre- quent state of incipient change leaves much of the snout, ears, legs, and tail, sulpbury-white, with considerable elevation of the general line of demarcation. This progresses until thfre D^ay be a narrow median dorsal stripe along the whole length of the animal. In this kind of change, the fur of the dark parts is often found without the slightest admixture of white, the hairs being, uniformly as dark as in summer, to the very li CONDITIONS OP THE CHANGE OP COLOR. 121 not roots. In other cases, however, with little or no restriction of the general dark area, this insensibly lightens by progressive whitening of the hairs from the roots outward, at first appear- ing merely paler brown, then white with brown streakiness of uniform character all over. The animal finally becomes pure white except the end of the tail. But this white is generally tinged in places, particularly on the belly and hind quarters, with sulphur-yellow. Conditions of the change of color. Much has been said of the mode in which this great change is ett'ected, not only in the case of the Ermine, but of the Arctic Fox, Northern Hare, Hudson's Bay Lemming, and other animals. As I have not personally witnessed the transition, I can only display the evidence afibrded in the writings of others. Some contend that the change is rapid and abrupt, resulting in a few hours, simply from lowering of temperature to a certain point. Others argue that the change is gradually accomplished ; and of those favoring the latter view, some maintain that the brown coat is shed and a wliito one grown, while others hold that the extinction of pigment is gradually effected without a renewal of the pelage. We will first review the evidence adduced by the author of Bell's Quadrupeds (p. 150, seq.): — " The winter change of color which this species so universally assumes in northern climates .... is effected, as I believe, not by a loss of the summer coat, a 1 the substitution of a new one for the winter, but by the actual change of color of the existing fur. It is perhaps not easy to offer a satisfactory theory for this phenom- enon, but we may perhaps conclude that it arises from a similar cause to that which produces the gray hair of senility in man, and some other animals ; of this instances have occurred in which the whole hair has become white in the course of a few hours, from excessive grief, anxiety or fear ; and the access of very sudden and severe cold has been known to produce, almost as speedily, the winter change, in animals of those species which are prone to it. The transition from one state of the coat to the other does not take place through any gradation of shade in the general hue, but by patches here and there of the winter colour intermixed with that of summer, giving a pied cov- ering to the animal It appears to be established that what ever may be the change which takes place in the structure 122 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. I! I & I ;, of the hair, upon which the alteration of colour immediately depends, the transition froLi the summer to the winter colours is primarily occasioned by actual change of temperature, and not by the mere advance of the season." The author quotes in support of his views, and as tending to confirm them, the observations of Mr. John Hogg (Loudon's Mag. vol. v.), and details an experiment upon a Lemming which turned white by a few hours' exposure to severe cold. As a supporter of the view that the change results from renewal of the coat may be cited the eminent naturalist Mr. Blyth, who communicates his conclusions to Mr. Bell in these terms (op. eit. 153) : — ^'Authors are wrong in what they have advanced respecting the mode in which this animal changes its color, at least in autumn; for in a specimen which I lately examined, which was killed during its autumnal change, it was clearly perceivable that the white hairs were all new, not the brown changed in colour." Once again we have the minute and detailed observations of Audubon and Bachman, made from March 6 to 23, upon an animal they kept in confinement, and which was observed dur- ing this period to nearly complete the change from white to the summer colors. These authors agree with Mr. Blyth : — " We have arrived at the conclusion, that the animal sheds its coat twice a year, i. e., at the periods when these semi-annual changes take place. In autumn, the summer Lair gradually and almost imperceptibly drops out, and is succeeded by a fresh coat of hair, which in the course of two or three weeks becomes pure white ; while in the spring the animal undergoes its change from white to brown in consequence of sheddiug its winter coat, the new hairs then coming out brown." This conflicting testimony, which might be largely added to if this were desirable, is perhaps not so difficult to harmonize as it appears at first sight ; nor is it in the least required to impugn the credibility of the witnesses of observed facts. I should state in the beginning, however, that it seems to me to be like straining a point to find any analogy between this periodi- cally recurring change in a healthy animal and the tardy senile change coincident with flagging of the vital energies, or with the sudden pathological metamorphosis due to violent mental emotions of a kind to which, ferce naturw are not ordinarily ex- posed. This poiut aside, I would readily agree with Mr. Bell that subjection to sudden severe cold may materially hasten HI u CONDITIONS OP THE CHANGE OP COLOR. 123 the the change. But it is to be remembered in this connection that the difference in temperature is necessarily coordinated more or less perfectly with the progress of the seasons, so that it becomes in effect merely a varying element in the periodical phenomena. The question practically narrows to this : Is the change coincident with renewal of the coat, or is it independ- ent of this, or may it occur in both ways ? Specimens before mei prove the last statement. Some among them, notably those taken in spring, show the long woolly white coat of winter in most places, and in others present patches — generally a streak along the back — of shorter, coarser, thinner hair, evidently of the new spring coat, wholly dark brown. Other specimens, notably autumnal ones, demonstrate the turuing to white of ex- isting hairs, these being white at the roots for a varying distance, and tipped with brown. These are simple facts not open to question. We may safely conclude that if the requisite tem- perature be experienced at the periods of renewal of the coat, the new hairs will come out of the opiK)site color ; if not, they will appear of the same color, and afterward change ; that is, the change may or may not be coincident' with shedding. That it ordinarily is not so coincident seems shown by the greater number of specimens in which we observe white hairs brown-tipped. As Mr. Bell contends, temperature is the im- mediate controlling agent. This is amply proven in the fact that the northern animals always change ; that in those from iotermediate latitudes the change is incomplete, while those from farther south do not change at all. The good purpose subserved in the animal's economy — in other words, the design or final cause of this remarkable alter- ation, is evident in the screening of the creature from ob- servation by assimilation of its color to that of the predomi- nating feature of its surroundings. It is shielded not only from its enemies, but from its prey as well. Another important effect of the whiteness of its coat has been noted. Mr. Bell has clearly stated the case : — ^< It is too well known to require more than an allusion, that although the darker colours absorb heat to a greater degree than lighter ones, so that dark-coloured clothing is much warmer than light-coloured, when the wearer is exposed to the sun's rays — the radiation of heat is also never greater from dark than from light-coloured surfaces, and consequently the animal heat from icithin is more completely retained by a white than by a dark covering ; the temperature 124 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. therefore of an aDimal having white fnr, would continue more equable than that of one clothed in darker colours, although the latter would enjoy a greater degree of warmth whilst exposed to the sun's influence. Thus the mere presence of a degree of cold, sui&cient to prove hurtful if not fatal to the animal, is itself the immediate cause of such a change in its condition as shaH at once negative its injurious influence." The latitudes in which the ?ha.:)ge occurs in this country in- elude the northern tier of States, and the entire region north- ward. In this area, the change is regular, complete, and uni- versal. Complete change is also usually effected — but not always — nearly to the southern limits of dispersion in mount- ainous regions. White winter specimens are the rule in MaS' sachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania ; and I have seen others, pure white, from Illinois, Wyoming Territory, and Cal- ifornia (Fort Crook). For the Southern States, from which I have no white examples, I will quote Audubon and Bachman : — " We received specimens from Virginia obtained in January, in which the colours of the back had undergone no change, and remained brown ; and from the upper and middle districts of South Carolina, killed at the same period, when no change had taken place ; and it was stated that this, the only species of Weasel found there, remained brown through the whole year. . . . Those from the valleys of the Virginia mountains have broad stripes of brown on the back, and specimens from Abbe- ville and Lexington, South Carolina, have not undergone the slightest change." It may be presumed that in the debatable ground some individuals may change and others not, and that, again, character of successive seasons may make a difference in this respect. General history and habits of the species. For the meaning of the name of this animal, we may refer again to Bell : — " The derivation of the word Stoat is very prob- ably, as Skinner has it, from the Belgic 'Stout', bold; and the name is so pronounced in Cambridgeshire and in some other parts of England to the present time. Gwillim, in his * Dis- play of Heraldrie ', gives the following etymology of Ermine : — 'This is a little beast, lesse than a Squirrell, that hath his being in the woods of the land of Armenia, whereof hee taketh his name.' " The latter word is sometimes written in English ♦ermin' or 'ermelin'; and the same term occurs in several II HISTORY AND HABITS OP. THE ERMINE. 125 other languages, as in the French 'hermine', the Italian 'ar- mellino', the Spanish ' armino', Portuguese 'armiuho', Dutch