PUTORIUS. 529 
suit. Weasels are fierce and bloodthirsty and destroy many more 
animals than they can possibly devour, merely to gratify their passion 
for killing. Rats and mice speedily disappear from a locality in 
which.a weasel has taken up its abode, and in performing this service 
it confers a benefit on the farmer, and so makes some amends for the 
destruction it may commit among the poultry. This active creature 
seems ever in motion, and its course is marked by blood and rapine, 
as it investigates every hole and burrow, penetrating to the very 
extremity of the galleries and slaying all creatures it may meet that 
may not be too powerful for it to grapple with successfully ; and while 
on these forays an abundance of food does not restrain it or cause it 
to remain near a well-stocked larder, but its bloodthirsty proclivities 
impel it onward in search of more opportunities to kill. If the great 
cats were endowed in proportion to their size with an agility and 
physical power equal to that of this little murderer, it would be a 
doubtful question if even man could successfully cope with them in a 
struggle for the mastery. The weasel is not abundant in any locality, 
and it is a solitary animal, but a family usually passes the first summer 
together. It is mostly a nocturnal animal, rarely seen by day, and 
lives in crevices of the rocks, in hollow stumps or trees, and also in 
burrows underground, selecting those of rodents it has either 
destroyed or driven away. The average litter is about six, but at 
times this number is greatly exceeded. Anal glands are present in 
weasels which contain a fluid that can be ejected in a fine spray, and 
which is very offensive, only slightly less so than that of the skunk. 
101. Putorius. Weasels. 
13; CH, PER Mt = 34. 
I—tI 3-3’ ‘a—2 
O. Bangs. A Review of the Weasels of eastern North America, 
Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 1896, pp. 11-24. 
C. H. Merriam. Synopsis of the Weasels of North America, N. Am. 
Faun., No. 11, 1896, pp. 5-36. 
Putorius Frisch, Nat. Syst. vierfiiss. Thiere, in Tab. 11, Tab. Gen., 
1775. Cuv., Régn. Anim., 1, 1817, p. 147. Gray, List Spec. 
Mamm., Brit. Mus., 1843, p. 64. Type Mustela putorius 
Linnzus. 
Arctogale Kaup, (nec Peters), Entw.-Gesch. Nat. Syst. der Europ. 
Thierw., 1, 1829, p. 30. 
Ictis Kaup, Entw.-Gesch. Nat. Syst. der Europ. Thierw., 1, 1829, 
De 40. 
