366 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. XL 



While the Mink cannot eject the odorous secretion of its anal 

 glands to a distance, as does the Skunk, the liquid is equally offensive. 

 Dr. Elliott Coues says:* "The peculiar odor which the animals of this 

 genus have in common attains in this large and vigorous species a 

 surpassing degree of fetor, though of the same quality. No animal in 

 this country, except the Skunk, possesses so powerful, penetrating and 

 lasting an effluvium. Its strength is fully perceived in taking the animal 

 from a trap, or when the Mink is otherwise irritated. Ordinarily the 

 scent is not emitted to any noticeable degree; it is under voluntary 

 control, and the fact that the Mink spends most of its time in the water 

 is another reason why its proximity, even in numbers, is not commonly 

 perceived by smell. Both sexes possess the scent bags; they lie in the 

 perinaeum, one on each side of the rectum, and open upon a papilla on 

 either side of the anus, just within the edge of the external orifice." 



Unlike the Weasels, the Mink does not turn white in winter. 



Specimens examined from Illinois, Wisconsin and adjoining states: 

 Illinois Warsaw, i ; Deerfield, Lake Co., 1 2. 

 Indiana Evansville, i. 

 Michigan Park Siding, i . 

 Wisconsin (M. P. M.) Wauwatosa, Milwaukee Co., 2; Glidden, 



Ashland Co., i; Rock Co., i; (O. C., skulls only) St. Croix River, 



Douglas Co., 2; Mercer, Iron Co., 2; Langlade Co., 4; Turtle Lake, 



Barron Co., 5; Pewaukee, Waukesha Co., u; Colfax, Dunn Co., 8; 



Fisher Lake, Iron Co., 1 = 37. 



Subgenus ICTIS Kaup. 



Body long, slender and close haired; upper parts darker than under 

 parts (in summer) ; soles of feet largely covered with fur. 



Putorius noveboracensis EMMONS. 

 NEW YORK WEASEL. ERMINE. 



Putorius noveboracensis EMMONS, Rept. Quadr. Mass., 1840, p. 45. KENNICOTT, 

 Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc., I, 1853-54 (1855), p. 578 (Cook Co., Illinois). Ib., 

 Agr. Rept. for 1857, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 1858, p. 104 (Illinois). MILES, 

 Rept. Geol. Surv. Mich., I, 1860 (1861), p. 220 (Michigan). STRONG, Geol. 

 Wis., Surv. 1873-79, I. 1883, p. 436 (Wisconsin). MERRIAM, N. Amer. Fauna, 

 No. ii, 1896, p. 7. RHOADS, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1896 (1897), p. 198 

 (Tennessee). SNYDER, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., II, 1902, p. 125 (Wisconsin). 

 JACKSON, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., VI, 1908, p. 29 (Wisconsin). HAHN, Ann. 

 Rept. Dept. Geol. & Nat. Resources Ind., 1908 (1909), p. 585 (Indiana). 

 HOWELL, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XXII, 1909, p. 65 (Tennessee). Ib., XXIII, 

 1910, p. 32 (Illinois, Kentucky). 



Putorius erminea EVERMANN & BUTLER, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1893 (1894), p. 137 

 (Indiana). 

 * Fur-bearing Animals, 1887, pp. 173-174. 



