96 Order CARNIVORA 



tail and legs. On the throat and chest is a pale buff patch. The 

 tail (about 9 inches long) is usually half as long as the head 

 and body (about 18 inches). 



The skull, which has a rounded, broad braincase, is approxi- 

 mately 85 mm. (about 3}i inches) long in the male and 75 mm. 

 (about 3 inches) in the female. Dental formula: I 3/3, C 1/1, 

 Pm 4/4, M 1/2. 



Distribution. — The marten was recorded from Cook County 

 by Robert Kennicott (1855:578), and a marten skeleton taken 

 "in northern Illinois" is preserved in the Museum of the Chi- 

 cago Academy of Sciences. Probably the marten once occurred 

 in several of the northern counties of our state where there 

 were stands of white pine. There are no records of its present- 

 day occurrence in Illinois, but there are several for Wisconsin. 

 The marten is an arboreal animal, principally of the conifer- 

 ous forests. The subspecies in Illinois was Martes americana 

 americana (Turton). The species is found from Labrador, 

 Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, northern New York to Alaska, 

 and southward in western Canada to the northwestern United 

 States, with extensions in the Sierra Nevada to south-central 

 California and in the Rocky Mountains to the northern part of 

 New Mexico. 



MARTES PENNANTI (Erxleben) 

 Fisher 



Description. — The fisher is similar in appearance to the 

 marten but is larger (head and body about 23 inches long) and 

 darker, being mostly of a dark brown, almost black color with 

 a slight frosting of white. It has no buff patch on throat and 

 :hest, although some small white patches may be present. The 

 tail (about 14 inches long) is somewhat longer than half the 

 length of the head and body. 



The skull is like that of the marten but larger (about 120 

 mm., or about 4^ inches, long). Dental formula: I 3/3, C 1/1, 

 Pm 4/4, M 1/2. 



Distribution. — The fisher formerly occurred in northernmost 

 Illinois. According to Robert Kennicott (1855:578), it "used 

 freouentlv to be seen in the heavv timber along Lake Michigan" 

 in Cook County and (1859:241) "It has been found, within a 

 few years, in Northern Illinois, and appears to be an inhabitant 



I 



