174 BULLETIN OF THE 



In concluding this brief review of the American weasels I will add that, 

 whether P. fremitus and P. xanUtogenys prove ultimately distinct from 

 each other, as they are likely to from the northern species (P. ermineus'), I 

 regret to feel obliged to assign the P. Kaneii Baird to the synonymes of P. 

 ermineus, not less from my regard for its describer than for the memory 

 of that admirable man its name is so appropriately designed to com- 

 memorate. To the same category I think must also be referred the P. 

 bocamelus Bonaparte, founded on the southern race of this species in 

 Europe (Sardinian specimens), as his P. Cicognanii was on a similar 

 American race. 



Since writing the above I have found that Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British 

 Museum, has recently referred Pulorius Kaneii Baird to Mustela ermim a 

 Linn., it forming his " variety 2, Kaneii " of this species.* To the same species 

 he has also referred the Putorius noveboracensis De Kay, and the Mustela 

 Cicognanii and M. longicauda Bonap., he calling them altogether " va- 

 riety 3, americana," of ermineus. Dr. Gray adds: "Dr. Spencer Baird, in 

 his work on the Mammals of North America, divides the stoats into six 

 species [P. Richardsonii, P. novcl>oraccnsis, P. longicauda, P. Cicognanii, 

 P. ermineus, and P. Kaneii], by the length of the tail and the black on the 



tail When the bodies of several English stoats have been compared 



they show how deceptive that character is. I do not say that they may 

 not be distinct ; but if they are, there must be other characters to separate 

 them besides the mere length of the tail." He accordingly gives as 

 "species 2" of the stoats, Mustela Richardsonii, on Professor Baird's 

 authority, and as chiefly distinguished by the upper lips and legs being 

 " entirely brown." He adds, " I have not seen this species." He further 

 observes: "The specimen formerly named M. Richardsonii [by Bona- 

 parte ?], in the British Museum, has the hinder part of the upper lip 

 white, but the hair is bent back and lost off the front part." In respect 

 to the white on the upper lip, he states that English specimens sometimes 

 have it reduced to a very narrow margin. 



The American weasel (P. pusillus auct.) Dr. Gray likewise considers 

 identical with the European P. vulgaris. But Bonaparte's Mustela bo- 

 camela of Southern Europe he admits as a valid species, under the sec- 

 tion of weasels, or of species with the " back and tail uniformly colored," 

 and extends its habitat to include North Africa (Algiers and Cairo). 

 The correctness of this view seems highly questionable, since New Eng- 

 land specimens of P. ermineus sometimes have the tip of the tail merely 



forgetting apparently for the time being this law of variation which he was one of the 

 first to recognize, and towards establishing which no one else has done so much. 

 * Proc. Lond. Zool. Soc, 1865. 



