Descriptions of East Asiatic Mammals 149 
Ermine, found in Altai, Mongolia, northern China, and Amur- 
land, mekanii from eastern Siberia, and mcdigna from Kam- 
chatka. 
In the Ermines the brown dorsal and pale ventral colors are 
always sharply delineated. The tip of the tail is black and the 
feet are brown. In winter all the pelage turns white except the 
black tip of the tail. The Ermines, together with the Yellow 
Weasel and Siberian Weasel or Kolinski, have been separated 
under the term Kolonocus. But since erminea is the type of 
Miistela, it follows that the latter must be used subgenerically as 
well as generically for the Ermines. 
The Yellow Weasel or Kolinski, M. sibirica, is colored pale 
brown on the back, changing gradually to a paler, yellowish 
brown below. The tip of the tail is not black but may be a darker 
shade of brown than the rest. According to Ognev's distribution 
map, this species is found throughout eastern Asia, as far north 
as the north coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, and according to 
Allen, it extends as far to the south as Kwangtung in China. 
Westward in the south it stops at the edge of Tibet and the 
Gobi Desert; but north of the Gobi it reaches west to eastern 
European Russia. In Korea its representative race is M. s. core- 
ana. In north China it is represented by the race M. s. fonta- 
nierii, and in southeast China by the race M. s. davidiana. In 
Formosa the form M. s. taivana is blackish brown in the sum- 
mer, paler in the winter. It is a mountain form. Kuroda gives 
the dimensions of the Formosan Weasel : length of head and 
body 10 to 13y 2 inches, tail 6 to 8% inches, foot 2 to 2^5 
inches. 
The Asiatic Alpine Weasels, ^Mustela altaica, belong with 
those Long-tailed Weasels which have the brown upper and 
paler under colors sharply separated. The tail has no black tip 
and is at least three times as long as the hind foot. The range 
extends from the Altai region east to Mongolia and the Khingan 
Mountains. A southern offshoot of this Weasel, M. a. kathiah, 
distinguished by its dark instead of whitish toes, is found along 
