MAMMALS MARTINAE MUSTELA AMERICANA. 153 



under surfaces of the digits completely concealed by coarse wooly hair enclosed within stiff 

 bristles springing from the edges of the toes. A careful examination shows that the balls of 

 the toes are naked, though these are densely overlaid by the wool just described. The claws 

 are, however, distinctly visible, though inserted among stiff hairs as long as themselves. 



The fur of this species is very full and soft, with many long coarse hairs interspersed. The 

 tail is densely covered with hair of two kinds, like those of the back, but rather coarser ; those 

 at the tip occupy about one-third of the total length of the tail with the hairs. 



It is difficult to give an accurate idea of the colors of this species owing to the variation in 

 different parts of the body of the same specimen, as well as the difference in different specimens. 

 On the upper parts and sides, generally, the hairs are of rather a light ash gray or grayish plumbe 

 ous for the basal three-fourths, on the rump and posterior third of body all round, including the 

 whole belly, tipped with rusty red (sometimes saffron) ; above, proceeding towards the head, 

 this reddish tint is gradually merged into a brownish ash, becoming still lighter and lighter 

 until the tints about the head are very pale, sometimes almost white. The prevailing tint of 

 legs and tail is a lustrous brownish black, although a close examination reveals a reddish or 

 ashy tinge of the basal fur. The margins and external surface of the ears are nearly white, as 

 also a patch on the throat commencing opposite the anterior base of the ear, and extending 

 backwards to the fore legs, though not between them ; the axillae are similarly blotched. In 

 another specimen the patch on the throat is yellowish, and the axillae unspotted. In this 

 specimen the reddish on the hinder portion of the body is more distinct. 



The colors as mentioned, except on the head, are much overlaid and modified by the longer 

 hairs interspersed, which at their tips are of a rich lustrous purplish brown or black. 



The specimens just described were caught in the Adirondac mountains, New York, in Febru 

 ary, 1855, and are in winter pelage. A summer specimen, obtained near Fort Boise, in Oregon, 

 in the summer of 1854, by Dr. Suckley, is not essentially different. The head, however, is much 

 less white ; the upper portion being much like the back ; the sides paler. The white of the 

 ears is quite inconspicuous. The tail and feet are brown rather than black. The patch of 

 reddish yellow on the throat is as described, and extends quite broad to the legs, when it sud 

 denly narrows, and continues as an indistinct stripe along the middle of the belly, and runs 

 into a brighter patch of reddish between the hind legs. 



Since this article was prepared, several additional specimens have been received from the 

 western country, which agree very closely with the one from Fort Boise. All are in summer 

 fur, which is much shorter and coarser than the winter. The balls of the feet are distinctly 

 visible in all. The colors are quite uniform, and none exhibit more than a tendency to the 

 white of the head, as described in the New York animal. The yellow of the throat is more 

 mixed with red. 



It is barely possible that two species of pine marten may exist on this continen-t, as supposed 

 by some authors. Until we have good winter specimens from the far west for comparison, with 

 corresponding ones from the eastern portion of the United States, it will be impossible to settle 

 the question definitely. Authors make no mention of visibly naked balls to the feet of either 

 the European or American pine martens, even in summer ; and, in fact, this is given as a point 

 of specific difference between them and the beech marten, M. foina. Still, I find them in a 

 summer specimen of M. martes, (378,) from the Swedish Academy. 



The sexes differ in the larger size of the males, and (in the two Adirondac specimens) in the 

 lighter reddish on the body of the female. The patch on the throat is much lighter in the male. 

 20 L 



