378 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XL 



Putorius rixosus allegheniensis (Rhoads). 

 Alleghenian Least Weasel. 



Putorius allegheniensis Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1900, p. 751. 



Putorius rixosus allegheniensis Ward, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, V, 1907, p. 63 

 (Wisconsin). lb., VII, 1909, p. Ii (Wisconsin). lb., IX, 191 1, p. 82 (Wis- 

 consin). 



Putorius pusillus Kennicott, Agr. Rept. for 1858, U. S. Patent Office Rept., 1859, 

 p. 245 (northern Illinois and Indiana). * 



Mustela pusilla Lapham, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, II, 1852 (1853), p. 338.* 



Type locality — Near Beallsville, Washington County, Pennsylvania. 

 Distribution - — From Virginia and New York west to Wisconsin; exact 



limits of range unknown. 

 Special characters — Size very small; end of tail without black or 



occasionally slightly dusky at extreme tip. Differs from F. rixosus 



in being somewhat larger and darker, together with some slight 



cranial differences. 

 Description — In summer: Upper parts walnut brown; under parts 



white; tail like the back, without distinct black end, although it is 



occasionally dusky at the extreme tip. 



/w wiw/^T.- Entirely white, including end of tail; female decidedly 



smaller than the male. 

 Measurements — Total length (male), about 7.50 inches; tail vertebree, 



about 1.20 inches; hind foot, about .80 inch. 



Male (mounted specimen) — Sauk Co., Wisconsin; total length, 



169 mm.; tail vertebrae, 35 mm. (Ward). 



Female (in flesh) — Racine Co., Wisconsin; total length, 179 



mm.; tail vertebrae, 29; hind foot, 21 (Ward). 



Type (mounted specimen) — Total length, 199 mm.; tail ver- 

 tebrae, 19; hind foot, 20 (Rhoads). 



So far as known only four specimens of this little Weasel have been 

 taken within our limits and all of them in Wisconsin. The records for 

 these specimens were first reported by Mr. Henry L. Ward and are as 

 follows: A female from Burlington, Racine Co., Nov. 26, 1906, caught 

 in the country in the act of killing a Mole (/. c, 1907, p. 63); a female 

 captured alive in the town of Sumpter, Sauk Co., Nov., 1902; a male 

 taken January 10, 1906, in the town of Merrimac, Sauk Co. (1. c, 1909, 

 pp. I i-i 2) ; and the fourth specimen, which is a female, is in the Milwau- 

 kee Museum collection, and was taken near Prescott, Pierce Co., March 

 6, 1911. 



The type of this subspecies was taken near Beallsville, Pennsylvania, 



* It is doubtful whether Lapham refers to this species or to some other. 



