146 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
No. 182. MUuUsTELA (GYMNOPUS: Gray) STRIGIDORSA. 
The Striped Weasel ( Jerdon’s No. 99). 
Hapitat.—Sikim. 
DeEscrIPTION.—Dark chestnut-brown, with a narrow streak of long 
yellow hairs down the back ; edge of upper lip, chin, throat, chest, and 
a narrow stripe down the centre of the belly, yellow, or yellowish-white. 
Si1ze.—Head and body, 12 inches; tail, 5} inches without the hair, 
63 inches with it. 
This is similar to the last, but is slightly larger, and distinguishable by 
the dorsal stripe. 
No. 183. MUSTELA ERMINEA. 
The Ermine or Stoat. 
Hasitrat.—Europe, America and Asia (the Himalayas, Nepal, Thibet, 
Afghanistan). 
DESCRIPTION.—Brown above ; upper lip, chin, and lower surface of 
body, inside of limbs and feet yellowish-white ; tail brown, with a black 
tip. In winter the whole body changes to a yellowish-white, with the 
exception of the black tip of the tail. 
S1zze.—Head and body, about 10 inches ; tail, 44 inches. 
This is about the best known in a general way from its fur being 
used as part of the insignia of royalty. The fur however only becomes 
valuable after it has completed its winter change. How this is done 
was for a long time a subject of speculation and inquiry. It is, 
however, now proved that it is according to season that the mode of 
alteration is effected. In spring the new hairs are brown, replacing the 
white ones of winter; in autumn the existing brown hairs turn white. 
Mr. Bell, who gave the subject his careful consideration, says that in 
Ross’s first Polar expedition, a Hudson’s Bay lemming (AZyodes) was 
exposed in its summer coat to a temperature of 30° below zero. Next 
morning the fur on the cheeks and a patch on each shoulder had 
become perfectly white ; at the end of the week the winter change was 
complete, with the exception of a dark band across the shoulder and a 
dorsal stripe. 
Hodgson remarks that the Ermine is common in Thibet, where the 
skins enter largely into the peltry trade with China. 
In one year 187,000 skins were imported into England, 
No. 184. MUSTELA (VISON: Gray) CANIGULA. 
The Hoary Red-necked Weasel. 
HasitTat.—Nepal hills, Thibet. 
DescripTION.—Pale reddish-brown, scarcely “paler beneath; face, 
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