2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 122 



General Description 



Along the Atlantic coast from Maine to New York are thousands of 

 shell heaps or kitchen middens, from a few square yards to an acre or 

 so in extent. These middens were produced by Indian encampments 

 dating back to pre-Columbian times. They have long excited interest 

 (Wyman, 1868) and many are still being explored (Waters and Mack, 

 1962). In one such shell heap at Brooklin, Hancock Co., Maine — on 

 the western shore of Bluehill Bay — F. W. True and D. W. Prentiss 

 unearthed, in 1897, the fragmentary skull of an unusually large mink. 

 This specimen, no. 115178 in the U. S. National Museum, was de- 

 scribed by Prentiss (1903) as a new species, Lutreola macrodon. 



The type specimen consists of the maxillae, portions of the nasals, 

 the right zygoma, and the palate to beyond the last molar. All teeth 

 are present on the right side, but only the incisors and one premolar 

 on the left. (The right upper canine of the holotype has come loose 

 and has been firmly affixed, inadvertently, on the left side.) All teeth 

 are in good condition except the canine, which is broken at the tip. 

 Prentiss described the rostrum as very wide and the nasal aperture 

 and the infraorbital foramina as large. He pointed out that the nasals 

 ascend more abruptly in the type specimen than in Mustela vison 

 mink, its nearest relative; the dentition is similar except for the larger 

 size of the teeth and the more acute angle of the carnassial wdth the 

 long axis of the skull in macrodon. Compared with M. v. ingens of 

 Alaska, the largest mink extant, he found macrodon to be decidedly 

 larger; e.g., the toothrow (anterior incisor to posterior molar) measured 

 28.0 vs. 30.0 mm. 



Subsequently, many other skeletal remains of macrodon have been 

 recovered from old Indian sites along the New England coast. Evi- 

 dently the sea mink served as food for the Indians. Loomis (1911) 

 reported that "every skull has the brain case broken and lost." Many 

 mandibles were scored, as if by a scraping implement used to remove 

 the flesh. Loomis characterized his mink as large and heavily built, 

 with a low sagittal crest and short, wide postorbital processes. The 

 frontal region was slightly arched between the orbits. Teeth were 

 typical of the genus but stouter and heavier; the inner tubercle of the 

 upper carnassial was single and rather small. 



Norton (1930, p. 28) further described a specimen from Goose 

 Island, in the collection of the Portland Society of Natural History, 

 as showing "a well pronounced sagittal crest, a rugose parietal, an 

 ample foramen magnum and massive occipital condyles. The basi- 

 occipital has a strong knob on each margin which extends forward as 

 a distinct ridge. The audital bulla is low, with a spine 1.5 mm. long 

 at the inner anterior point." 



