136 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. 



7, 1847, on the Wiscbera, in latitude 62°. The summer coat 

 of this individual agreed substantially with that of other 

 Ermines killed at the same season in other regions. The tail 

 of the above mentioned animal shows a whit« ring before its 

 black end, very likely only an individual peculiarity. The balls 

 of the feet and the joints of the toes were distinctly visible. 

 Von Hoffmann informed me that the Ermines follow the 

 Lemmings to the Arctic Sea. 



The many Ermines killed near St. Petersburg are always 

 brown in suminer but white in winter, which, Pallas says, is 

 also the case with those living near the Caspian Sea (Zoogr. i. 

 p. 93). In my memoir on the periodical change of pelage of 

 animals of the Weasel kind (Bull. Sc. CI. Phys. Mat. v. ix. n. 12, 

 Melanges Biolog. i. p. 185), I mentioned the capture of an Er- 

 mine in the brown or summer pelage, in the mouth of Novem- 

 ber, on the island of Oesel, and doubted then the likelihood of 

 such an occurrence. The following communication, however, 

 from D r . M o r i t z , of Titlis, respecting Miistela vulgaris, permits 

 me to believe that mauy individuals do not change when the 

 winter is mild. The northern limits of the animal's distribu- 

 tion in the Eussian possessions are the shores of the Arctic 

 Ocean; the southern limits include the whole region south of 

 the Caucasus; the western, Poland; and the eastern, Kamt- 

 schatka and East Siberia. Concerning the value of the fur, and 

 the yearly proceeds, see v. Baer, Beitr. viii. p. 183. 



The Long^-tailed H^easel. 



Putorius longicauda. 



? Mustela longicauda, Bp. Charlesw. Mag. N. H. 1838, 38 (based on long-tailed variety of P. 



enninea from Carlton House, i2ic/i. F. B. A. i. 1 829, 47, in text).— Gray, List Mamm. 



Br. Mus. 195. 

 ?PutorIus longicauda, Rich. Zool. Beechey's Voy. 1839, 10*, (in text; same as foregoing). 

 Puturius longicauda, Baird, M. IST. A. 1857, 169 (Nebraska, Montana).— /St/cA'Ze?/, P. R.R. 



Ptcp. xii. pt. ii. 1859, pp. 93, 114 (Milk Eiver).— JTayd. Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. xii. 



1862, 142.— (?) J?os.?, Canad. Nat. and Geo], vi. 1861, 4il.—Coucs & Yarrow, Zool. Expl. 



W. 100 Merid. 1875, 591 (Colorado and New Mexico). 

 PutoriUS culbertsoni, Bd. 21SS. Mus. Smiths, (labels of nos. 4320, 4325). 

 HermeUn des oberen Missouri, Maxim. Verz. N.-A. Saug. 1862, 46, pi. "8", f. 8 (penis-bone). 



Hab. — Eegion of the Upper Missouri and its tributaries ; Minnesota, Da- 

 kota, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming; also Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, 

 Arizona. North apparently to Carlton House ; west probably to the Pacific. 



Specific characters. — Size of P. erminea ; tail absolutely and relatively 

 longer, with hairs f to f the head and body. Below tawny or bufi"y, with a 

 salmon (not sulphury) tinge abruptly defined against white of cheeks and 



