CHARACTERS OF PUTORIUS VISON. 161 



PutoriUS lutreolus, ["C«i'."J Alle7i,'Bn\h M. C. Z. i. 1869, 175 (critical),; ii. 1870, 169 (FIot- 



ida).— Allen, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. xiii. 1869, 183. 

 PutorillS lutreolus var. vfSOll, Allen, Ball. Ess. Inst. vi. 1874, 54, 59, 62. 

 Mustela (lutreola) lutreola var. americaaa, Schinz, Syn. Mamm. i. 1844, 347. 

 Visoil lutreola, Oray, List Mamm. Br. Mus. 1843, 64 (partly).— 6?err. Cat. Bones Br. Mus. 



1862,92 (partly). 

 Mustela canadensis, Urxl. Syst. An. i. 1777, 455 (mixed witli synonymy of another species, 



but clearly referable here from the description, which can only apply to the Mink. 



See Bd. M. K A. text on p. 151). 

 Mustela canadensis var. visou, Bodd. Elench. An. i. 1784, 86 (after Bnffen). 

 Mustela winlngUS, Barton, Am. Phil. Tr. vi. 1809, 70 (no descr. ; St, Louis, Mo.). 

 Mustela minx, Turt. S. K i. 1806, 58— Ord, Guthr. Geog. 2d Am. ed. ii. 1815, 291, 298. 

 Mustela lutreocephala, Harl. Fn. Amer. 1825, 63. 



Yison lutreocephala, Gray, P. Z. S. 186.5, lie ; Cat. Cam. Br. Mus. 1869, 94. 

 ? Mustela rufa, H. Smith, Jard. Nat. Lib. xiii. 1842, 189. 

 PutoriUS nigrescens. Arid. <& Bach. Q. N. A. iii. 1853, 104, pi. 124 (not in orig. QA.).—Baird, M. 



N. A. 18.57, im.— Gilpin. Tr. N. Scotia Inst. ii. 1870, 12, 6C. 

 Mink, Smith's Virginia, 1624.— iiaim, Itin. iii. 22. 

 Mink, Common Mink, American Mink, Authors and others. 

 Minx, Laioson, Carol. 1709, I'ii.—Brickell, Nat. Hist. North Car. 1737, 118.— Penn. Arct. Zool. 



17H4, 87, no. 35. 

 Otay, Sagard-Theodat, Hist. Canad. 1636, 748 (ed. of 1866, iii. 680). 

 Foutereau, La Hontan, Voy. i. 1703, 81. Also of Freneh Canadians. 

 Vison, Buf. Hist. An. xiii. 1765, 304, pi. 43 (bas^d on specimen in Mus. Aubry, as wene the 



descrs. of Briss. &. 1*61111.).— Bomare, Diet. iv. 1768, 615.— Penn. Hist. Quad. 1781, no. 



20."; Arct. Zool. i. 1784, 78, no. 29. 

 Visone, Scataglia, An, Quad. iv. 1775, pi. 155, f. 2 (from BuflFon), 

 American vison. Gray, P. Z. S. J865, 116. 

 Lesser Otter, Penn. Hist. Quad. 1781, 228.—Forst. Phil. Trans. Ixii. 1772, 871. 



Jackash, Heame, Journ. , 376. 



ShakWiesliew or Atjackashew, Cree Indians (= '• Jackash''). 

 Mountain-brook Mink, Aud. d- Bach. I. «. 

 Litlle Black Mink, Bd. I. c. 

 Mountain Mink of Hunters. 



Habitat. — North America, at large. North to the Arctic coast, but nor 

 abundant north of Fort Resolution. 



Specific characters.— Larger and stouter than the Stoats ; ears shorter : 

 tail uniformly bushy, nearly as in Mustela; feet semipalmate; color dark 

 chestnut-brown ; tail, and usually a dorsal area, blackish ; chin white, the 

 edges of the upper lip rarely also white, the throat, breast, and belly often 

 with irregular white patches. Length 15-18 inches ; tail-vertebrse 6-8. 



Description of external characters.* 



This animal, with the eesential characters of dentition, <S;c., 

 of Putorins, difi'ers notably from the typical Stoats and Weasels 

 {Gale) in its larger size and much stouter form, in which re- 

 spects it approaches the true Martens. It shares with these 

 the uniformly enlarged, bushy, and somewhat tapering tail, in- 

 stead of a slenderly terete tail with enlarged bushy tip, as in 

 the Stoats. The tail-vertebrse are one-half (more or less) as 



* From numerous specimens in the Smithsonian Institution from all parts 

 of North America. 

 11 M 



