444 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF Plaj, 



the officers of ihe Aniericau ^Museum of Natural History, Field 

 Columbian Museum, U. S. National Museum, ^Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology and the Academy of Natui-al Sciences, Phila- 

 delphia. 



Only skulls of the oldest adult males have been used in the com- 

 parative cranial diagnoses and measurements, viz., those in which 

 the upper cranial sutures have so disappeared that the nasals are 

 indistinguishable from the premaxillaries. I am aware that Dr. 

 J. A. Allen has long ago {Bull. U. S. Geol. Sur. Territ, 1876, 

 Vol. 3, pp. 328-330) arrived at the same conclusions that I have 

 reached concerning the small size of southern American martens 

 by an independent investigation, in part, of the same specimens. 

 But his researches were chiefly directed to a consideration of the 

 differences between the American and Old "World martens, and did 

 not include specimens from Labrador and the Cascade mountains. 

 I have been fortunate in securing several specimens, from the TJ. 

 S. National IMuseuni and the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Old 

 World martens tyjiical of M. foina, M. martes and 31. zibellina, 

 and am thus enabled to discuss their relationships with those of 

 America. A series of thirty skulls from Kamschatka merit special 

 mention. 



As I now understand their relationships, the North American 

 martens consist of three si:)ecies and three subspecies, viz., the 

 South Canadian marten, Mustela americana Turton ; the Arctic 

 marten, 31. a. aciuosa Osgood ; the British Columbia marten, 31. a. 

 abietlnoides (Gray) ; the Labrador marten, 31. a. brumalis 

 (Bangs); the Newfoundland marten, 31. atrata Bangs; the Cas- 

 cade mountain marten, AI. caurina Mei-riam, and the Rocky 

 mountain marten,' 31. c. origenes Rhoads. 

 Mustela americana Turton. South Canadian Marten. 



1802. [Mtistcla] americanus Turton, Liunseus, Syst. Naturnc, Vol. I, 

 p. 60. 



1819. Mustela vulpina Rafinesque, American Jour. Science, 1819, p. 

 82. (Upper Missouri river = i/. americann with vvliite-tipped tail.) 



1820. Mustela leucopus Kuhl, Beitriige Zoologie, p. 74. ("In 

 Canada "= J/, americana with white-tijiiied feet.) 



1823. Mustela luiro F. Cuvier, Diction. Sci. Naturelles, Vol. 29, p. 



256. (Restricted types from tlie habitat of the Huron Indians, 



fide ^lilbcrt, viz., region cast and south of Georgian baj', west 



peninsula of Ontario := J/, americana ti/j^icus, pale form {"blond 



clair "). 



Tyj^e Locality. — Turton says his M. americanus " inhabits North 



