452 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 84 



Family MUSTELIDAE 



MARTES PENNANTI PENNANTI (Erxleben) 



Eastern Fisher, or Pekan 



Although the range of the fisher formerl}- extended southward in the 

 Allogheny Mountains to North Carolina, there are very few authen- 

 ticated records for West Virginia. Fred E. Brooks (1911, p. 26) 

 writes that E. C. Barrett, of Beckle^^ [Raleigh County] bought three 

 fisher skins from Moses Stover, in 1871, 1872, and 1873, paying for 

 them $3, $3.50, and $5, respectively. The animals were trapped on 

 the Clear Fork of Big Coal River. Brooks believed that the records 

 of the carnivore called "black fox" by the early settlers should be 

 accredited to the fisher. Christopher Gist (Darlington, 1893, pp. 

 76, 145) states that he killed a "black fox" on March 5, 1752, on 

 Neemokeesy Creek [=Fishing Creek] in Wetzel County, These 

 animals were occasional^ caught by Edwin Phillips (A, B, Brooks, 

 1929, p. 538), a pioneer in Upshur County, in log bear traps. Surber 

 (1909, p. 55) says that the fisher "formerly occurred in some numbers 

 in the black spruce region." 



MUSTELA RIXOSA ALLEGHENIENSIS (Rhoads) 



Least Weasel 



This weasel is the smallest of all the North American carnivores 

 and is rarely taken by trappers. 



Pocahontas County: Travellers Repose, L 



Randolph County: Hiittonsville, 1. 



Ohio County: Oglebay Park, recorded by A. B. Brooks (1929, p. 541). 



MUSTELA FRENATA NOVEBORACENSIS (Emmons) 



New York Weasel 



Specimens of the New York weasel have been collected in the 

 northern and eastern parts of West Virginia. The animal should 

 occur throughout the State. This weasel often lives in stone fences, 

 in the vicinity of cabins, and in farm buildings Near Philippi it was 

 reported as being most plentiful in the vicinity of rock ledges on the 

 hillsides. One was caught in a trap set in a rock crevice for wood rats. 

 Another was taken on Si)ruce Ivnob and still another at Cranberry 

 Glades in large Schuyler traps that had been nailed to the trunks of 

 spruce trees. These traps were set about 5 to 6 feet above the ground 

 and baited with bacon. 



Barbour County: 7 miles east of Philippi, 1. 



Hardy County: 1. 



Pendleton County: Spruce Knob, altitude 4,860 feet, 1, 



Pocahontas County: Cranberry Glades, altitude 3,300 feet, 1. 



