TENNESSEE I^.IAMMALS KELLOGG 261 



Benton County: Big Sandy, 1. 

 Montgomery County: Clarksville, 1. 

 Shelby County: Arlington, 1. 



Family MUSTELIDAE 



MARTES PENNANTI PENNANTI (Erxleben): Eastern Fisher, or Pekan 



Althouo-h Dr. C. Hart Merriam (1888, p. 159), after having accom- 

 panied Henry Gannett, of the U. S. Geological Survey, several hun- 

 dred miles through the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and 

 North Carolina, reported that the pekan was unlmown m 1887 to 

 local residents, reliable information exists that this animal formerly 

 occurred in that area. Audubon and Bachman (1816, vol. 1, p. 311) 

 refer to the former presence of the fisher as follows: "We have seen 

 several skins procured in east Tennessee and we have heard of at 

 least one individual that was captured near Flat Rock [? Cumber- 

 land County] in that State, latitude 35°." The Flat Rock was a we 1- 

 known landmark when the wagon road from Clinch River to Nash- 

 ville was opened for travel in 1795. Latitude 35°, however, is 

 approximately the southern boundary of the State. 



MUSTELA FRENATA NOVEBORACENSIS (Emmons) : New York Weasel 



The available specimens of this weasel were all taken in the eastern 

 half of the State. Rhoads (1896, p. 196), however, states that it is 

 said to be common in west Tennessee." A weasel was taken at an 

 altitude of 3,800 feet near Shady Valley on June 13, 1937, m a large- 

 size Schuyler trap nailed to the trunk of an oak tree. Another 

 weasel was trapped on Roan Mountain during September 1937 in a 

 balsam-fir forest. Local residents in 1937 reported to Perrygo that 

 weasels were fairly numerous at lower altitudes in the valleys of 



eastern Tennessee. ^^ . i t.t i 



Curiously enough, the three weasels in the National Museum col- 

 lection from the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, as well as 

 the two collected in eastern Tennessee by the Museum party m 1937, 

 are all somewhat darker than the Campbell and Hamilton County 

 specimens. The coloration of the upper parts of these five speci- 

 mens approaches Front's brown or sepia. This coloration is of 

 doubtful significance, since three specimens from 6.000 feet elevation 

 on Roan Mountain, N. C, as well as five others from Magnetic City 

 at the foot of Roan Mountain, have the usual cinnamon-brown colora- 

 tion Furthermore, in a series of 37 specimens from localities in 

 Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, a young male 

 and a young female have this dark-colored pelage. 



107573—38 2 



