SYNONYMY OF PUTORIUS ERMINE A. 109 



" The female Weasel .... brings forth four, or more fre- 

 quently five young, and is said to have two or three litters in a 

 year. The nest is comi^osed of dry leaves and herbage, and is 

 warm and dry, being usually placed in a hole in a bank, in a 

 dry ditch, or in a hollow tree. She will defend her young with 

 the utmost desperation against any assailant, and sacrifice her 

 own life rather than desert them ; and even when the nest is 

 torn up by a dog, rushing out with great fury, and fastening 

 upon his nose or lips." 



The signification of the name ^Weasel\ or, as it is also some- 

 times written, '•WeeseV, is obscure. Webster states that he 

 does not know the meaning, but observes that the German 

 ' tviese ' is a meadow. Yon Martens, as quoted on p. 26, dis- 

 cusses the subject in its philological bearings. The name 

 * Weasel ' in strictness should pertain to the present species, as 

 distinguished from its various larger allies, as the Stoats and Fer- 

 rets ; but it has come to have rather a generic application to the 

 various species of the same immediate group. 



The Stoat or Eritfiiiie. 



Putorins (Gale) eriniiiea. 



Plate VI, Figs. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7. 



{a. General references.) 



xMus ponticus, quein liodie vocant Hermelam, Agric. "De Anim. Subter. 1614, 33 '. 



Mustela caiHliila, Schwenckf. " Theriotropli. 1603, 118 ". 



Mustela cauiUda in extrema caudsi uigricaus, A^d^oy. "Quad. Digit. 1645, 310, fig ". 



Mustela alpina caiidida, TTo.f/n. "Hist. "Nat. Hel vet. 1680, 180'', 



Mustela Candida s. animal Ermineuni receutioruui, Bay, " Syn. Quad. 1693, 198 ". 



Mustela alba, Rzacz.^Poloi}. 11-21,235 '\ 



Mustela eaudte apice atro, Linn. Fn. Suec. Ist ed. 1746, 3, no. 90. 



Mustela Candida s. ermineum, irimi. Syst. Nat. eds. 6th, 7th, 1748, 5, no. 6. 



Mustela armellina, Klein, "Quad. 1751, 63 '. 



Mustela nivea aurlbus augustis, caudse apice nigro, B^iZ^, " Hist. Anim. 1752, 548 ", 



Mustela taieme alba, testate supra rutila infra alba, caudle apice uigro. Brigs. Quad. 

 1756, 242. 



Mustela erminea, Linn. Mas. Adolph. Frid. 1st ed. 1754, 5 ; S. N. i. lOth ed. 1758, 46, no. 9 ; 

 Fn. Suec. 2d ed. 1761, 6, no. 17; Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i. 1766, 68, no. W.—HoiiLNatnurl 

 Hist. iii. 1761, 206,pl. 14, f. 5.— 5. G. Gmel. Reise, ii. 1770, pi. 23 (ermineum majus).— 

 Mull. Zool. Dan. Prod. 1776, 3, no. li.—Erxl. Syst. An. 1777, 474, no. 13.— Schreb. Siiug. 

 iii. 1778, 496, pi. 137, A, E.—Zimm. Geogr. Gesch. ii. 1780, 308, no. 205.— (?m. S. K i. 1788, 



98, no. 10.— Her^n. Obs. Zool. 45.— Hechst. Naturg. i. , Idl.-Turt. S. N. i. 1806, 61.— 



Pall. Zoog. E.-A. i. 1831, 90, no. 31 (ermineum).— Desm. Mamm. i. 1820, 180, no. 277 ; Xouv. 

 Diet, xix, 376 ; Ency. Meth. pi. 83, f. 2, 3.—^/-. Ouv. Diet. Sci. Nat. xxix, 1823, 250.— 

 Is. Geo/. Diet. Class. X. 212. -iess. Man. 1827, UQ.-Fisch. Syn. 1829, 222.— i^iem. Br. 

 An. 1828, 13.— Jen. Br. Vert. 1835, 13.— Bell, Br. Quad. 1837, 148 ; 2d ed. 1874, 191, fig.— 

 Selys-L. Fn. Belg. 1842, Id.-Gray, List Mamm. Br. Mus. 1843, Q5.—ScMnz, Syn. 



Mamm. i. 1844, 3A-i.—Schrenclc. Keise Amurl. , 40.— Gieh. Saug. 1855, l^l.—Gerr. Cat. 



Bones Br. Mus. 1862, 93.— Grill, Zool. Gart. iu. 1862, 22S.—Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, 111; Cat. 

 Carn. Br. Mus. 1869, 88. 



