Remarks mi the genus Mustela. 37 



3. Carcharodon, Smith. Teeth as in Carcharis, serrated on both edges 



The third tooth of the upper jaw smaller. (1 sp.)* 



4. Selache. Teeth very small, narrow, conic, numerous. Snout short. 



(1 sp.) 



5. Rineodon, Smith. Teeth exceedingly small, pointed. Mouth on 



the top of the snout. 



The valve of the intesline seems to form a spiral in all the 

 Lamnoidea ; there is only Carcharodon and Oxyrrhina in 

 which we cannot be sure of this point, because we have had 

 no opportunity of dissecting them. 



Berlin, Dec. 12. To be continued. 



Art. VIII. Remarks on the species of the genus Mustela. By 

 Charles L. Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano.* Communi- 

 cated by the Author. 



In all English zoological publications, we find two American 

 species noticed, with more or less certainty, under the names 

 of Mustela vulgaris and M. erminea. 



During my stay in the United States, I only saw a small 

 species of Mustela, very common throughout the Union, which 

 all the naturalists at that time considered as the M. vulgaris. 

 I at once perceived that it was not that European animal, and 

 that it approached more to the M. erminea. From that re- 

 mark of mine the name was changed, as, for example, in Dr. 

 Godman's Natural History. 



I have since, in my Iconography of the Italian Fauna, 

 speaking of the new M. boccamela, taken an opportunity of 

 revising the group Mustela, and of distinguishing the Ameri- 

 can under the name of M. Cigognanii ; as it is intermediate 

 between the two European species. I believed, (not to speak 

 of the American authors, who have only studied nature in 

 European books), that the American M. vulgaris and M. er- 

 minea, had both been founded on this species ; I have now 

 found two American species the true representatives of ermi- 

 nea. . For these I shall now propose a name ; and as my 

 observations on the genus may not be known in England, 

 I shall give a short compendium of my labours. 



The genus Mustela, as may be seen at length in the work 

 quoted, is by me divided into four genera; Zorilla, Martes, 

 (the Mustela of Cuv.) Putorius, {Putorii pars, Cuv.) and Mus- 

 tela, {Putorii pars, Cuv.) Of the necessity of retaining the 

 classical name of Mustela to these small slender-tailed species, 

 every one acquainted with Latinity cannot have a doubt. 



The following are the species of the genus, as I have re- 

 stricted it. 



* Read at the Zoological Society. 

 d3 



