8 Bangs The Weasels of Eastern North America. 



and upper lips white ; tail same color as upper parts, sometimes a little 

 paler below than above, becoming suddenly black at tip, and ending in a 

 long pencil of black hairs ; under fur a shade or two lighter than the long 

 hairs. Winter pelage : Pure white all over, with no yellowish tinge ; end 

 of tail jet black. The change to a white winter coat apparently takes place 

 over the entire range of the species. 



Size. Average of five adult males from Alberta and Saskatchewan : 

 total length, 445.5; tail vertebrae, 161; hind foot, 51.5. Average of five 

 adult females from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota : total 

 length, 385; tail vertebrae, 139; hind foot, 43.5. 



Skull. Short, broad, and massive, developing with age a strong sagittal 

 crest ; general shape of brain case, viewed from above, triangular, owing 

 to great width across mastoids and sharp constriction behind postorbital 

 processes ; postorbital processes well developed and conspicuous ; audital 

 bullae broad, deep, and short ; inflated squamosal much reduced and not 

 nearly flush with under surface of audital bullae ; distance from audital 

 bullse to postglenoid process very short ; mandible large and heavy. 



The skull of P. longicauda resembles the skull of Putorius proper more 

 than that of the smaller members of the subgenus Gale. 



The dentition is normal, but rather heavy. 



Remarks. Putorius longicauda is easily told from all other 

 North American weasels. Its highly developed desert colora 

 tion, large size, and long, graceful tail make it one of our finest 

 species. Specimens from Devil's lake, North Dakota, while refer 

 able to this species, are rather darker than true longicauda and 

 are approaching its eastern subspecies spadix. 



P. longicauda and its allies seem to be less subject to the attacks 

 of the parasite that lives in the frontal sinuses of all the weasels 

 than the other members of the subgenus Gale. The sexual differ 

 ence in size is not so great in P. longicauda as in most of the other 

 species. 



Putorius longicauda spadix subsp. nov. 



Type from Fort Snelling, Minn., No. fffe? male, yg. ad., American 

 Museum Nat. Hist., New York, col. by Dr. E. A. Mearns, U. S. A., June 

 25, 1889. Original number, 812. 



Geographic distribution. The western edge of the eastern forest belt in 

 Minnesota (Fort Snelling and Elk river). The subspecies probably ranges 

 north and south of this region. Further west, where the open, treeless 

 plains are reached, it passes into- true longicauda. 



General characters. Similar to true longicauda, from which it differs in 

 color only. 



Color. Slimmer pelage: Upper parts Prout's brown, not very different 

 from the color of P. noveboracensis, but perhaps a little brighter very dif 

 ferent from the yellowish and clay color of true longicauda. Under parts 

 in the type white, with a faint greenish yellow tinge. In two topotypes 



