176 BULLETIN OF THE 



distinction between the American and European animals, — a difference 

 in the size of the upper tubercular tooth, — the value or constancy of which 

 T have at present no means of determining. 



Of the American animal Dr. Gray makes three " varieties." The first is 

 dark, with unspotted throat and chest, whose habitat lie gives as " Van- 

 couver's Island *'; but it also occurs in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Illi- 

 nois, as I have myself observed, and probably throughout the habitat of the 

 species. The second is characterized simply as having the "chin entirely 

 brown," while the third is Audubon and Bachman's P. nigrescens. No 

 special habitat is given for the last two. Neither of them, however, is a 

 permanent variety. In the general color, as well as in the white spots, 

 there is a wide variation, different specimens varying from pale brown to 

 quite intense black. There is also an extensive variation in size, but as 

 very large and very small individuals occur in each stage of color it is very 

 difncult to consider any of these variations as other than individual, or such 

 as are evidently to be referred to season, sex, or a^e. 



Numerous supposed species of the Old World mink have also been char- 

 acterized, chiefly from the warmer regions, five of which are recognized as 

 valid by Dr. Gray. The first of these is the common M. lutreola of Linnseus, 

 the habitat of which is given as " Europe." The second is the M. siberica of 

 Pallas, which Dr. Gray says is paler and smaller than M. lutreola, with the 

 tail relatively longer and the end paler colored, or like the back, instead of 

 darker than the back.* He observes that it " varies greatly in the quantity 

 of white on the chin and throat," and adds that the " males are m 

 The last statement, if true, indicates a remarkable exception to the sexual 

 law of variation in size in this family. The habitat is given as Siberia, 

 Himalaya, Japan, China, and Formosa. Dr. Gray's third species is the 

 Mustela canigula of Hodgson, originally described from specimens from 

 the Nepaul Hills of India. Its chief distinction seems to be an unusual 

 amount of white on the face, chin, throat, neck, and chest, although Gray 

 mentions as a variety a specimen with darker fur and much less white. 

 His fourth species, Mustela (Visori) Horajieldii Gray, seems not to differ 

 particularly from the others, or from frequent, American specimens, as its 

 " variety two " is characterized as "chin brown, edge of under lip only 

 white." This is likewise from India (Bootan) and .Japan. The fifth, from 

 Nepaul, the Putorius subhemachalna of Hodgson, differs from the preceding 

 in being generally lighter or redder, — in other words, having less in- 

 tensity of color, — with minor differences in the amount and distribution 

 of the white. If all these species are valid, it will be seen that Southern 

 and Eastern Asa and Japan are peculiarly rich in species of this 



* The relative shade of color of the tip of the tail a* compared with the back is a 

 character too inconstant in this group to merit serious mention. 



