20 Bangs — Tlie Weasels of Eastern North America. 



the white hairs persist longer in a well defined spot between the eyes and 

 in front of the ears than elsewhere on the head. In the bridled weasel 

 this spot between the eyes is a constant character, and in P. peninsulx the 

 white patch in front of the ears is a constant character ; and still these 

 weasels have no white winter coat. 



Size. — Average of ten adult males from the lower Canadian and Transi- 

 tion zones : total length, 285 ; tail vertel)r£e, 77.5 ; hind foot, ?>7. Average 

 of three adult females from the lower Canadian and Transition zones : 

 total length, 254; tail vertebrae, 69; hind foot, 30.5. 



P. cicogiiani varies somewhat in size all through its range, but apart 

 from this individual variation there is a gradual increase from south to 

 north, and specimens from Newfoundland and Labrador and also those 

 from Lake Edward and Godbout, Quebec, are nearly equal in size to 

 richarcUoiil. A specimen from Codroy, Newfoundland (No. 3751, male, 

 old adult, coll. E. A. and 0. Bangs), measures: total length, 339; tail 

 vertebrae, 97 ; hind foot, 48. 



Skull. — Skull smooth and light, not developing sagittal crest with age. 

 It differs very little from the skull of richarclsoni, but perhaps is a little 

 narrower and deeper, with the inflated squamosal a trifle more inflated 

 and larger, and usually quite flush with the audital bulla, from which it 

 is separated by an almost straight line ; mandible and teeth rather lighter. 



Two skulls from Codroy, Newfoundland (Nos. 1164 and 1177, coll. E. A. 

 and O. Bangs), present a very remarkable character that I have never 

 seen in any other skulls of Gale. Each has an extra molar on each side of 

 the upper jaw, placed behind the regular last upper molar. These teeth 

 are small and round, but well shaped and symmetrical on the two sides. 

 Remarks. — Bonaparte first described this little weasel under 

 the name Mustela cicognani {Fauna Italica, fasc. xxii, 1888), giv- 

 ing a very brief and imperfect account of it, and no definite type 

 locality ; but his description indicates this animal and can api)ly 

 to no other. Furthermore, the following statement, made by 

 him the same year in Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural His- 

 tory, leaves no doubt as to the animal he had. He said : " During 

 my stay in the United States I only saw a small species of 3Ias- 

 tela, very common throughout the Union, which all the natu- 

 ralists at that time considered as the M. vuk/aris. I at once 

 perceived that it was not that European animal, and that it ap- 

 proached more to the 717, erminea. From that remark of mine 

 the name was changed, as, for example, in Dr. Godman's Natural 

 History. I have since, in my Iconography of the Italian Fauna, 

 speaking of the new ilf. boccamela, taken an opportunity of revis- 

 ing the group Mustela, and of distinguising the American under 

 the name of M. cicognanii, as it is intermediate between the two 

 European species." P. cicognani, before Bonaparte separated it, 

 Avas, as he states, generally confused with the European P. vul- 



