38 QUADRUPEDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Genus Mustela. 



Generic characters. Dental system ; incisors f ; canines f ; 

 molars l-Zf ', = 3S. Body elongated, ears rounded, legs short, 

 feet pentadactyle. 



1. Mustela Canadensis. Lin. The Fisher or Pekan. 



Le Pekan, Buffon, xiii. p. 304. t. xlii. opt. 



Mustela Canadensis, Lin., Gmel., i. p. 95. Harlan, Fauna Amer. p. 65. 

 Mustela Pennanti, Sabine, Franklin's First Journ. Erxl. Syst. 

 Fisher, Pennant, Zool., i. p. 82. 

 Pennant's Marten, Godman, Nat. Hist., i. p. 203. 

 Figure ; Ibid., p. 185. 



Specific characters. Color mostly black ; nose, rump, tail, and 

 extremities black ; face yellowish-gray ; head round ; ears low 

 and wide at base, and semicircular ; margins whitish ; tail long 

 and bushy. 



Description. The color of the head and shoulders lighter, 

 being of a yellowish, or brownish, or ash-gray ; hair and fur also 

 of those parts shorter than on the rest of the body, darker beneath 

 than above ; hair black or dark-brown at the extremity, then ash, 

 and then darker at the roots ; fur uniformly brown, and of one 

 color over the body ; head rather round, which contracts suddenly, 

 and forms rather a pointed nose ; mystachical bristles brown ; the 

 ears are wide asunder ; feet and legs short, strong ; toes free, black, 

 and armed with sharp nails ; tubercles small, and concealed by 

 the dense hair ; tail black, and rather bushy. There are white 

 spots at the base of the anterior, and a large one between the 

 posterior legs, and a small one on the throat. In another indi- 

 vidual, there were no white spots. The general color of this was 

 ash above, and nearly black beneath ; inner toe shortest. 



Dimensions. 



Whole length, .... 



Tail, ...... 



From the nose to the ear, 

 Height at the fore legs, 

 " " posterior, 



