PUTORIUS ERMINEA. 25 



NOTE II. 



ON A PECULIARLY COLORED STO,Vf IN THE COL- 

 LECTIONS OF THE LEYDEN MUSEUM 



Dr. F. A. JENTINK. 



November 1899. 



The Stoat, Putorius erminea (Linné), has a differently 

 colored summer- and winter-dress : its lower parts, margins 

 of the ears and feet, however, constantly are of a whitish 

 or yellowish white color and the terminal part of its tail 

 remains black in all seasons. In winter in our temperate 

 climate its coat sometimes is mottled with brown, but in 

 severe winters it becomes entirely white: the more farther 

 north the white is purer : in southern Europe and Asia it 

 is brown the whole year all round. 



In our collection ') is a rather complete series of indi- 

 viduals procured in different months, all from the environs 

 of Leyden: this series shows very clearly the way by which 

 the stoat turns white in winter and again brown in summer. 



In the autumn distinct parts of the dark summer-coat 

 successively become white, apparently sudden and in the 

 following order as a rule — a rule however with many 

 exceptions: the tail beginning at the distal part of the 

 brown, the flanks of the body, the haunches and shoulders, 

 the legs, the upperparts of body, finally the head, beginning 

 between the eyes, so that according to the more or less 



1) Of. Catalogue systeraatique des Maramifères du Muséum d'Histoire natu- 

 relle des Pays-Bas. 1892. Tome XI, p. 144. 



]Votes from the Leytlen ÜMusenm , Vol. XXII. 



o** 



