148 Mammals of Eastern Asia 
The size is large, and the long pelage is rilled with scattered dark 
guard hairs; the underfur is pale as in some specimens of 
Martes martes. However, the ears are low and small as in the 
Weasels, and the number of upper premolars is two, instead of 
the three found in the Martens. 
There are three species : M. putorins, the European Polecat 
(the type), M. eversmanni of Asia, and M. nigripes of America. 
The Masked Polecat, Mustela (Putorius) eversmanni, orig- 
inally found in western Siberia, occurs as slightly variant races, 
M. e. tiarata in Mongolia, Tibet, Shansi, and Szechwan, M. e. 
larvata in the Himalayas, and M. e. talassicus in eastern Siberia. 
The Chinese animals have the terminal third of the tail, the 
throat, chest, fore and hind legs, and underparts blackish brown. 
The sides of the belly are buff. In the winter the top of the head 
and the sides of the face become whitish instead of brown. The 
head and body measures 15 to 16 inches, the tail 6 to 6% inches, 
the hind foot 2% in females to nearly 4 inches in males. 
The True Weasels, genus Mustela, are small to very small 
carnivores with very long bodies and short legs. Some have quite 
long tails, others very short ones. The Polecats, Putorius (see 
above), excluded provisionally from Mustela, appear more like 
Martens than Weasels. 
The typical species of Weasel is the Ermine, M. erminea, a 
member of one of the long-tailed groups. Other quite distinct 
species include M. sibirica and M. altaica, both long-tailed and 
fairly closely allied to M. erminea, the Minks, M. vison (not 
found in northern Asia), and the extremely short-tailed Least 
Weasels, M. rixosa, and Snow Weasels, M. nivalis. Although 
several long-tailed Weasels are known in the Asiatic tropics, the 
short-tailed Weasels are confined to the northern areas of Asia. 
LONG-TAILED WEASELS 
The Ermines or Stoats, M. erminea, of Europe are repre- 
sented in eastern Asia by M. E. mongolica, the Mongolian 
