On the Weasel and some of its Subspecies. 41 



black, dark testaceous near the apex; it is thickly covered 

 with bright golden pubescence. The base of the petiole is 

 slightly depressed ; its sides with some distinct curved 

 striations. The abdominal segments are lined with yellow ; 

 the apical one is for the greater part testaceous. 



This species is referable to Oxyhelus rather than to Crahro^ 

 although it has not got any thoracic lamina?, through the 

 submarginal cellule being confluent with the tirst discoidal, 

 and through the eyes not being strongly divergent towards 

 the vertex. Saussure forms a tribe and Fox a subfamily for 

 Oxyhelus — the Oxyhelince. 



III. — "Note on the Weasel^ Putorius (Ictis) nivalis, Linn., 

 and some of its Subspecies. By G. E. H. Barrett- 

 H A MILTON. 



I HAVE recently had under examination the set of skins of the 

 weasel in the British Museum collection, and have been 

 greatly struck by the large amount of local variation shown 

 in the specimens from various parts of Europe, for many 

 of which the Museum is indebted to the liberality of the late 

 Lord Lilt'ord and of Mr. Oldfield Thomas. 



The characters which seem most subject to variation are 

 the general size, the length of the tail, the colour of the 

 underside, and the course and arrangeaient of the line of 

 demarcation between the colours of the two surfaces of the 

 body. In the far north, as is well known, the weasel regu- 

 larly turns white in winter, and this character is in itself 

 sufficient to warrant the subspecific separation of those indi- 

 viduals whose winter coat is white from those which, as in 

 England, do not undergo such a seasonal change of colour. In 

 temperate regions the reddish-brown colour of the upperside 

 is retained througiiout the year, but the animal is characterized, 

 as in Great Britain, by the possession of a pure white belly. 

 In the warmer South, however, we find weasels with the 

 belly more and more washed with yellow, until, in some of 

 the Mediterranean localities, such as Sicily, Malta, and 

 Algeria, the colour reaches buff or orange. The length of 

 the tail seems to bear some relation to the colour of the 

 underside, for whereas specimens from Great Britain, France, 

 Hungary, Germany, Northern Italy, the Caucasus, and Asia 

 Minor (Van and Erzerum) have short tails, those from Sicil)^, 

 Malta, Sardinia, Algeria, and Cairo are long-tailed, while those 

 from the south of Spain seem to be intermediate in this respect. 



