30 Zoology of Colorado 



tailed weasel, Mustela longicauda, over 15 inches long, light brown 

 above in the summer; and the mountain weasel, Mustela arizonen- 

 sis, appreciably smaller and much darker. The former belongs 

 to the plains, the latter to the mountains, though reaching the 

 edge of the plains. Although Dr. Mearns named the mountain 

 weasel arizonensis, because it was first found near Flagstaff, 

 Arizona, it goes north as far as British Columbia. 



The beautiful bridled weasel of New Mexico (Mustela frenata 

 neomexicana) is believed to extend to southwestern Kansas, and 

 may yet be detected in the southeastern corner of Colorado. 



The Rocky Mountain marten, Mattes caurina origenes of 

 Rhoads, was first described from a specimen collected on Marvine 

 Mountain, Garfield County. Its color is brown, with the throat 

 and breast yellow or orange; the tail is long and bushy. The 

 premolar teeth are four on each side, above and below, instead of 

 three as the weasels. Martens are noted for living in trees, and 

 preying on birds and squirrels. The wolverene, or glutton, Gulo 

 luscus of Linnaeus, is a powerful animal of considerable size, the 

 total length about 39 inches. Its appearance is suggestive of a 

 small bear, except for the thick bushy tail; and it is singular that 

 Doran, examining its ear-bones, found that the incus was very 

 like that of a bear. Linnaeus said it was very fierce, seizing 

 beavers by surprise. Miller (1912) remarked that although it 

 was usually regarded as closely related to the Mustelinae, it might 

 probably find its true relationship with the African ratel(Me//itfora). 

 Our Colorado wolverene has always been referred to Gulo luscus 

 described from Hudson Bay, but the German zoologist Matschie 

 described no less than four supposed new wolverenes from North 

 America in 1918. One of these, called G. bairdi, came from North 

 Dakota, and if really distinguishable may be the form we have here. 



The American badger forms a genus {Taxidea) distinct from 

 that of Europe. Warren says it is found over the whole of Colo- 

 rado, up to the timber line, and refers all the specimens to the typ- 

 ical Taxidea taxus. More recently, (1918) Figgins has separated 

 a new subspecies, T. taxus phippsi, the type locality being north- 

 east of Chromo, Archuleta County. It may also be noted that 

 the subspecies berlandieri of Allen (1895) came from the Llano 

 Estacado of Texas, near the border of New Mexico. T. t. phippsi 

 is darker and larger than berlandieri, with a broader skull. 



