MAMMALS MAKT1NAE PUTORIUS LOJVGIC AUDA. 



169 



Measurements. 



List of specimens. 



PUTOEIUS LONGICAUDA. 



Mustela longicauda, BONAP. in Charles worth's Mag. N. H. II, Jan. 1838, 38. (Based on Richardson's description.) 

 Pulorius longicauda, RICH, (ex BONAP.) Zoology Beechey's Voyage to Pacific, 1839. Mammalia, 10.* 

 Mustela (Put^rius) erminea, RICH. F. B. A. I, 1829, 46. (" Carlton House variety, with long tail.") 



S P . CH Length to tail about eleven inches. Tail vertebra; about half this length. Black of tail about one-fourth its length. 

 Above, light olivaceous brown; beneath, brownish yellow; edge of upper lip and chin white. In winter, white; tail with 

 black tip. Light space on belly much wider than in P. noveboracensis. Muzzle broad. 



This species, which belongs to the section of ermine weasels, is larger than any of its 

 congeners, excepting the American ermines. Like the P. nigripes of And. and Bachman, it 

 is characterized by the breadth of the muzzle, as very distinctly shown in the skull. The hair 

 is everywhere remarkably stiff, coarse, and short, fully equalling in this respect the fur of P. 

 frenata. The ears are rather short and low, the meatus quite concealed by stiff, bristly hairs. 

 The naked portion of the muzzle is large and prominent. 



The vertebrae of the tail (as ascertained before skinning) are nearly half the length of the head 

 ani body, (5 and 12 inches ; the hairs C| inches.) The hairs of the tail are stiff, long, and 

 bristly, though rather sparse ; the brush at the end fuller than in P. noveboracensis, less so than 

 22 L 



