2 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



upou the far of several of the species, such as the Ermine, Sable, 

 Xutria, aud Sea Otter j and various other pelts, only less valu- 

 able than these, are furnished by members of this family. 

 These animals sustain other relations toward man, by no means 

 to be overlooked. The serious obstacles which the Wolverene 

 offers to the pursuit of the more valuable fur-bearing animals 

 of British America is set forth in following pages,- while the 

 destructiveness of such species as the Mink aud various kinds 

 of Weasels is well known to the poulterer. The Skunks are 

 infamous for tbe quality, familiar to every one, which places 

 them among the most offensive and revolting of animals ; they 

 are, moreover, capable of causing one of the most dreadful dis- 

 eases to which the human race is exposed. The cruel sport 

 which Badgers have afforded from time immemorial has given 

 a verb to the English language; wiiile the legitimate pursuit 

 of various Mustelidw is an important and Avide-spread branch 

 of human industry.^* The scientific interest with which the 

 zoologist, as simply such, may regard this family of animals 

 yields to those practical considerations of e very-day life which 

 render the history of the Mustelidw so important. 



The definition of the family is strict. The zoological char- 

 acters by which it is distinguished from other Carnivorous Maju- 

 mals are well marked; and few if any naturalists of repute 

 differ in their views respecting the limitation of the. group. The 

 systematic position of the family in the Carnivorous series seems 

 to be also settled by very general consent. Singular as it may 

 seem, when, without considering intermediate forms, we com- 

 pare for instance the diminutive, slender-bodied, and nimble 

 Weasels with the great, heavy-bodied, and comparatively sloth- 

 ful Bears, the closest affinities of the Musteline series are with 

 the Ursine; the next nearest are with the Canine; and the 

 family Mustelidw may properly stand between the Ganidce on 



* During the century, 1769-1868, the Hudson's Bay Company sold at auc- 

 tion in London, besides many million other pelts, the following of Mustelidm : — 

 1,240,511 sables, 674,027 otters, 68,694 wolverenes, 1,507,240 minks, 218,653 

 skunks, 275,302 badgers, 5,349 sea otters. In 1868 alone, the company sold 

 (among many thousand others) 106,254 sables, 73,473 minks, 14,966 otters, 

 6,298 skunks, 1,104 wolverenes, 1,551 badgers, 123 sea otters ; besides which 

 there were also sold in London, in the autumn of the same year, about 4,500 

 sables, 22,000 otters, &c. Another company, the Canadian, sold in London, 

 during the years 1763 to 1839, the following: 2,931,333 sables, 29,110 wolver- 

 enes, 895,832 otters, 1,080,780 minks.— (Droste-Hulshoff, Der Zoologiache 

 Garten, 1869, ]). 317.) 



