MAMMA.LTA. 



419 



be, to use tlie words of Professor Owen,* " the oldest species 

 of mammalia now living on the face of the earth." 



III. Mustelidcc.— nie Otter, the Weasel (Fig. 328), and 



Fig. 32&— Wba£ki, 



the Ferret, are so well known that they may he enumerated 

 as giving, by the slendemess and flexibihty of their bodies, an 

 idea of the characteristic structure of the group. The Otter, 

 which lives principally upon fish, has been taught to aid the 

 fisherman in his vocation. The Stoat (3/. eiininea) , like the 

 Alpine Hare or the Ptarmigan, changes the colour of its 

 covering in winter to a snowy white. The fur is then in 

 that condition in which it is most valuable, the pure white of 

 the skin contrasting with the deep black colour of the tail. Its 

 unsullied aspect has even become proverbial ; in so much that 

 the "ermined robe of justice" is regarded as symbolical of the 

 mental purity of its wearer. The Ermine has been observed 

 among the Swiss mountains at an elevation of 9,600 feet ; its 

 habitation is above the lower limit of perpetual snow, and in 

 the region of the Alpine shrubs.f 



IV. Canidcp. — The various races of the domestic Dog, in all 

 climates the friend and companion of man, belong to this 



Fig. 320.— WoL». 

 • British Fossil Mammalia, p. 111. f Berghaiis and Johnston. 



2e 



