4 Bcmgs — The Weasels of Eastern NortJi America. 



ardsonl cicngiKini, there is a wide range in size. Just how much 

 of this is due to age and how much to individual variation is 

 hard to tell, as there is in this subs})ecies a constant increase in 

 size from south north, examj)les from iNIinnesota and northern 

 New Brunswick and northward being much larger than those 

 from Massachusetts and Clonnecticut. 



Early History of the Species. 



The first work that need be taken into consideration in study- 

 ing our weasels is the Fauna Boreali- Americana of Richardson, 

 published in 1829. In this the author described two spectes 

 and gave them the names of the common European weasels, 

 vulgaris and enninca. The latter he divided into two varieties, a 

 large long-tailed one from Carlton House, Saskatchewan, and a 

 large short-tailed one from Fort Franklin, Great Bear lake. 



Bonaparte, in his Fauna Italica (fasciculus xxii), published in 

 1838, descril)ed a new weasel from the United States which he 

 called Mustela cicognani. This was the same animal that Rich- 

 ardson had called M. vulgaris. The same year, in Charlesworth's 

 Magazine, Bonaparte named Richardson's two varieties of erminea 

 as distinct species, calling the long-tailed one from Carlton House 

 Mustela longicauda, and the short-tailed one from Great Bear lake 

 Mustela richardsoni. The next year (1839) Richardson, in the 

 ' Zoolog}^ of Beechey's Voyage,' accepted Bonajjarte's conclusions 

 as stated above. 



De Kay in 1840, in his ' Report on the Zoology of New York,' 

 named a new weasel which he called Putorius novel) or acensis. He 

 gave no description and his name is o, no men nudum.. Emmons, 

 the same year (1840), in his 'Report on the Quadrupeds of 

 Massachusetts,' described P. noveboracensis, attributing it to De 

 Kay. Of course the name must date from Emmons. It is rather 

 unfortunate, as Emmons gives no type locality. As he was 

 treating onl}^ of Massachusetts mammals, it seems advisable to 

 consider Massachusetts the type locality. 



Audul)on and Bachman in 1842, in the ' Journal of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,' descril)ed Mustela fusca, 

 wliich is the same as M. cicognani of Bonaparte. 



De Kay, in his ' Zoology of New York ' (1842), in addition to 

 P. novehora.censis gives M. fusca of Audubon and Bacliman, and 

 describes another weasel that he calls Mustela pu ■■ill la. All but 

 the first are synonyms of cicognani Bona2)arte. 



