18 AN OUTLINE OF THE BRITISH MUSTELADJE. 



rate, on each foot. Teeth, six incisor above, erect, acute, distinct ; 

 six, below, more obtuse and thickly set : one bruising grinder, 

 termed tuberculevse, by Cuvier, in the upper jaw. Short intes- 

 tines : no coecum. They are arranged, by Blumenbach,* in the 

 Class, Mammalia, Order, Digitata, Sub-order, Fera ; by Cuvier,f 

 in the Mammiferes, Carnassiers, Carnivores, and, as treading only 

 on the extremities of the toes, in the tribe of the Digitigrades, 



Of the two British genera which this family comprehends, the 

 Mustela, or Weasel genus is characterized by the presence of two 

 false or tearing grinders in the upper, — and three in the lower 

 jaw : the carnivorous tooth, — carnassiere, Cuv. — below, has no 

 internal tubercle. Muzzle comparatively short and thick : tongue 

 rough. Odour fetid, especially when the animal is irritated. 

 The genus contains three British species ::]: 



1. Putorius, — Fitch et or pole-cat, — le Putoir of the French, — 

 Puzzola, of the Italian, — Putoro, of the Spanish, and der Ilk, 

 litis, Stankerratz, of the German writers. Specific characters : 

 colour yellowish-black ; mouth and tips of the ears paler. 

 Length of body seventeen inches; — of the tail, which is uniform 

 in colour, six inches. Brings forth six young at a time ; and, in 

 its burrowing habits, resembles the otter. 



Remarks. — This agile, sanguinary, and destructive animal was 

 very common, in my younger years, in the country around 

 Coleshill; and committed great depredations in the poultry- 

 yards and rabbit-warrens there. For the last twenty-four years, 

 I have never met with a living specimen in the state of freedom. 

 Reports of its capture or destruction at Hopwas-wood, in the 

 vicinity of Tamworth, however, occasionally reach me. The 

 ferret, — le Furet, F., — Furetto, It., — der Frettel, G., — described 

 by some naturalists as a distinct species, under the title of 

 Mustela furo, constitutes, I believe, only an albino variety of the 

 Putorius. It was originally introduced into this island, from 

 Africa ;§ and breeds freely with the dark-coloured original. Its 

 employment in the destruction of rats is well-known. When a 

 boy, I have witnessed severe and long-protracted contests between 

 individuals of the two species. The battle, however, invariably 

 terminated in the destruction of the rat by its nimble and wily 

 antagonist. 



2. Erminea, — Ermine or Stoat, — I'Hermine, F., — Ermellino, 

 It., — Armino, Sp., — das Hermelin, das grosse Wiesel, G. Spec. 

 Char. Colour yellowish-brown above; yellowish-white, beneath 



* See Blumenbach's Manual of Natural History — page 52 — translated from 

 the German, by Mr. Gore, of Bath. A very useful work. 



t See Cuvier's celebrated Regne Animal. Vol. i. p. 142. Second edition. 



% See Pennant's British Zoology (8vo. edition of 1812), vol. i. p. 105, plates 

 vi. and rii. ; the Zoologist'' s Text-hooky by Capt. Brown, vol. i. p. 70, vol. ii. 

 pl.x. ; and Palmer's Lectures on the Vertehrated Animals of the British 

 Islands, p. 28. 



§ Kai 7«x«j- otypKXT »T *i Xu^ur) <pipii, Straho, Liber 111. 



