356 FIELD MUSEUM or NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. XL 



a shot upon the unsuspecting Elk, Moose, Reindeer, and fastening 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 attest the possession of really remarkable qualities, 

 which need be but caricatured for transformation into just such fables."* 



To still further enhance this animal's reputation for eccentricity 

 Linnaeus bestowed upon it the name luscus, which might not unreason- 

 ably be supposed to imply that it was a kind of quadruped Cyclops. f 



There is no doubt that the Wolverine is an unusually strong, savage 

 and sagacious animal, as has time and again unquestionably been 

 proved. In localities where they are common, hunters find difficulty 

 in making a "cache" of supplies which cannot be found and destroyed 

 by these animals. Dr. Coues cites a case where a Wolverine 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. The same author also says: "To the trapper, the Wolverines 

 are equally annoying. When they have discovered a line of Marten 

 traps, they will never abandon the road, and must be killed before the 

 trapping can be successfully carried on. Beginning at one end they 

 proceed from trap to trap along the whole line, pulling them successively 

 to pieces, and taking out the baits from behind. When they can eat 

 no more, they continue to steal the baits and cache them. If hungry, 

 they may devour two or three of the Martens they find captured, the 

 remainder being carried off and hidden in the snow at a considerable 

 distance. The work of demolition goes on as fast as the traps can be 

 renewed." 



"The propensity to steal and hide things is one of the strongest 

 traits of the Wolverine. To 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." (1. c., p. 51.) 



Ross says: "The desire for accumulating property seems so deeply 



* Fur-bearing Animals, 1877, p. 44. 



t It is far from probable that the great naturalist intended to convey any such 

 meaning, although we have a similar misnomer in that of the Great Bird of Paradise 

 (P. apoda) described by the same author and so named for the reason that the first 

 skins of the species received in Europe lacked feet. 



