MUSTELA.—GALICTIS, 79 
of its close ally, WZ. erminea, Linn. Here the animal is of the comparatively pale form 
named MM. xanthogenys by Gray®, “which is merely the northernmost palest form, 
between which and true frenata (City of Mexico &c.) there is no difference requiring 
recognition by name. In Guatemala frenata already assumes the rich coloration that 
culminates further south in brasiliensis” ©, In the dark southern races there is a ten- 
dency to the disappearance of the irregular white facial markings; but this is a point 
in which there is much individual variation. Thus in three examples collected in 
Costa Rica by Dr. v. Frantzius the frontal spots were totally absent’, while in a specimen 
sent from the same country by Whitely to the British Museum they are of the usual 
size. The tints of the lower parts vary, as well as those of the upper, but are brighter 
salmon-red in the young than in the adult. As in the allied species, there is also con- 
siderable variation in the proportional length of the tail and body. 
In habits the Bridled Weasel probably resembles its northern congeners, but nothing 
appears to have been specially recorded as to its mode of life. 
2. GALICTIS. 
Galictis, Bell, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 552 (1826) *, 
Galera et Grisonia, Gray, List Mamm. Brit. Mus. pp. 67, 68 (1848). 
This genus, of which only two species are known, resembles the true Weasels in 
dentition and the Martens in general form and habits, but differs from both in its 
closely connected digits, naked soles, and almost plantigrade gait. Both the Grison, 
G. vittata (Schreb.), and the Tayra have a wide distribution in South America; but the 
latter only, well characterized by its black-brown colour with irregular light markings 
about the face and throat, extends its range north of the Isthmus of Panamaf. 
1. Galictis barbara. 
Mustela barbara, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 67 (1766, descr. orig.)?. 
Galera barbara, Moore, P.Z. 8. 1859, p. 51”. 
Galictis barbara, Frantzius, Arch. f. Naturg. xxxv. 1, p. 287°. 
Tepeytzcuitl seu Canis Montanus, Hernandez, De Quad. Nov. Hisp. fol. 7, cap. xxi. 
Chulomuco, Tulomuco, of Costa-Ricans °. 
Hab. Mexico (Mus. Brit.), Yucatan (Gaumer, Mus. Boucard) ; Britisu Honpuras, Belize 
(Leyland?); Nicaracua, Granada (@rsted, Mus. Hafn.) ; Costa Rica (Frantzius*); 
Panama (Zool. Soe. Viv.).—Souta America, to the Rio de la Plata. 
* Not Galictis of Is. Geoffroy (Compt. Rend. Ac. Paris, v. p. 581, 1837), which is the same as his Galidictis 
(Mag. de Zool. 1839, p. 51). 
+ Two fossil species from postpliocene deposits of Maryland and Virginia have been described by Prof. Cope 
under the names Galera macrodon and G. perdicida (Proc. Philad. Ac. 1868, p. 155; Proc. Am. Philos. Soe. 
1869, p. 177) ; but (with regard to the latter, at least) there seems to be some doubt whether the remains were 
not those of a Mephitis. (Cf. Coues, Fur-bearing Animals, pp. 19, 20.) 
