MAMMALS—MARTINAE—MUSTELA AMERICANA. 153 
under surfaces of the digits completely concealed by coarse wooly hair enclosed within stiff 
bristles springing from the edges of the toes. A careful examination shows that the balls of 
the toes are naked, though these are densely overlaid by the wool just described. The claws 
are, however, distinctly visible, though inserted among stiff hairs as long as themselves. 
The fur of this species is very full and soft, with many long coarse hairs interspersed. The 
tail is densely covered with hair of two kinds, like those of the back, but rather coarser; those 
at the tip occupy about one-third of the total length of the tai] with the hairs. 
It is difficult to give an accurate idea of the colors of this species owing to the variation in 
different parts of the body of the same specimen, as well as the difference in different specimens. 
On the upper parts and sides, generally, the hairs are of rather a light ash gray or grayish plumbe- 
ous for the basal three-fourths, on the rump and posterior third of body all round, including the 
whole belly, tipped with rusty red (sometimes saffron) ; above, proceeding towards the head, 
this reddish tint is gradually merged into a brownish ash, becoming still lighter and lighter 
until the tints about the head are very pale, sometimes almost white. The prevailing tint of 
legs and tail is a lustrous brownish black, although a close examination reveals a reddish or 
ashy tinge of the basal fur. The margins and external surface of the ears are nearly white, as 
also a patch on the throat commencing opposite the anterior base of the ear, and extending 
backwards to the fore legs, though not between them ; the axillae are similarly blotched. In 
another specimen the patch on the throat is yellowish, and the axillae unspotted. In this 
specimen the reddish on the hinder portion of the body is more distinct. 
The colors as mentioned, except on the head, are much overlaid and modified by the longer 
hairs interspersed, which at their tips are of a rich lustrous purplish brown or black. 
The specimens just described were caught in the Adirondac mountains, New York, in Febru- 
ary, 1855, and are in winter pelage. A summer specimen, obtained near Fort Boisé, in Oregon, 
in the summer of 1854, by Dr. Suckley, is not essentially different. The head, however, is much 
less white ; the upper portion being much like the back; the sides paler. The white of the 
ears is quite inconspicuous. The tail and feet are brown rather than black. The patch of 
reddish yellow on the throat is as described, and extends quite broad to the legs, when it sud- 
denly narrows, and continues as an indistinct stripe along the middle of the belly, and runs 
into a brighter patch of reddish between the hind legs. 
Since this article was prepared, several additional specimens have been received from the 
western country, which agree very closely with the one from Fort Boisé. All are in summer 
fur, which is much shorter and coarser than the winter. The balls of the feet are distinctly 
visible in all. The colors are quite uniform, and none exhibit more than a tendency to the 
white of the head, as described in the New York animal. The yellow of the throat is more 
mixed with red. 
It is barely possible that two species of pine marten may exist on this continent, as supposed 
by some authors. Until we have good winter specimens from the far west for comparison, with 
corresponding ones from the eastern portion of the United States, it will be impossible to settle 
the question definitely, Authors make no mention of visibly naked balls to the feet of either 
the European or American pine martens, even in summer ; and, in fact, this is given as a point 
of specific difference between them and the beech marten, M/. foina. Still, I find them ina 
summer specimen of J. martes, (378,) from the Swedish Academy. 
‘The sexes differ in the larger size of the males, and (in the two Adirondac specimens) in the 
lighter reddish on the body of the female. he patch on the throat is much lighter in the male. 
20 L 5 
