12 Bangs — The Weasels of Eastern North America. 



incisor of each nuiu(lil)le l)eliin(l tlie other incisors, giving the 

 appearance of a clouhle row of teetli. I'his condition is merely 

 individual, and is not shown in other skulls oi penmsulue. It can 

 be found in many examples of any species. 



In the American Mnseuni collection is a skin (No. ll\l), with, unfortu- 

 nately, only a fragment of the skull left, from Yemassee, in the southeast 

 corner of South Carolina, which I refer with some doubt to P. peninsulse. 

 The specimen is labeled male. The skin is much shrunken and affords no 

 actual measurement, except that of the hind foot, which is 41 millimeters, 

 one millimeter more than in the type of P. peninsulue, also measured from 

 the dry skin. The colors are al)0ut as in x^eninsulse, but the tuft of white 

 hair in front of the ear is not present, and the yellow of the under parts, 

 while covering tlie whole hand and inside of the arms, does not extend 

 down the legs, but ends alx^ut the middle of the thighs, as in novebora- 

 cmsis. The toes, however, are yellow. The fragment of skull has the 

 teeth ; they are a trifle heavier than in the average males of novebora- 

 censis, while the animal is evidently smaller and has a shorter tail. 



All the existing sjjecimens of peiun>^uLr are very nearly of a size. If both 

 sexes are represented, peninsula; is remarkable for the slight difference in 

 size between the male and the female. Male weasels always greatly out- 

 number the females, and it would be strange if all the seven examples of 

 peninsulce were females. This is a point of great interest, and can only be 

 settled by properly sexed and measured male specimens, which 1 hope 

 will turn up before long, as I believe that P. peninsula: is far from a rare 

 animal in Florida. I heard of it several times at Micco, where it is ap- 

 parently not uncommon, but was able to get only the skull referred to 

 below.* 



I have been told by a reliable man, who used to live in south central 

 Georgia, that a weasel is common there, and that he frequently caught 

 them when trapping for other animals. Of course, he could n(jt tell the 

 species, but I fancy it is peninsuhv. 



P. peninsula: is known at present by only a few rather fragmentary and 

 one good sexed and measured sjiecimens, as follows : The type, No. 1515, 

 coll. S. N. Rhoads, from Hudson's, Pasco county, Florida (a rather young, 

 unsexed, and unmeasured skin, with a small pait of the skull j ; No. 61490, 

 U. S. Nat. INIus., from Polk county, Floi-ida, winter 1893-1894, N. R. Wood, 

 collector (good skin, w'ithout sex or skull); No. HH, coll. Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam, from Tampa bay, Florida (an old adult, a jaoor unsexed and un- 

 measured skin, witii a rather more perfect skull than the type, only the 

 occipital part being gone) ; No. 7927, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., from Osceola, 

 Florida (a good but unsexed and unmeasured skin, with no skull); No. 

 .'W53, coll. E. A. and 0. Bangs, from Micco, Florida (a nearly perfect, 



* The great difficulty is in trapping successfully in Florida with any kind 

 of baited trap. Where there are hogs this is })ractically impossijjle, and 

 in other places turkey buzzards, opossums and raccoons make the trapjjer's 

 life a burden. 



