MAMMALS MARTINAE PUTORIUS FRENATUS. 



173 



Measurements. 



P. kaneii. 



P. erminea. 



List of specimens. 



PUTORIUS FRENATUS. 



Bridled Weasel. 



Muslelafrenala, LICHT. Darstell. Saugt. 18271834 ; pi. xlii. 



AUD. & BACH. J. A. N. Sc. VIII, 11, 1842, 291. 

 Mustelafrenala, GRAY, Zoo]. Sulphur, 1844, 31; pi. ix. (Head.) 

 Mustela (Gale)frenata, WAGNER. Suppl. Schreb. Saugt. II, 1841,234. 

 Putorius frenata, AUD. & BACH. N. A. Quad. II, 1851, 71. (Plate Ix. ?) 

 ?? " Muslela brasiliensis, SEWAST. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. IV, 1811, 356; tab. iv." 

 " D'ORB. Voyage Amer. Mcr. Mam ; pi. i.iii, f. 3, skull." 



g p . CH. Tail vertebrae rather more than half the length of body ; the terminal hairs one-fifth to one-sixth this length. Head 

 above, dark brown, nearly black, with three white marks, one between the eyes, and another in advance of each ear. Above, 

 chestnut brown ; beneath, yellowish white. Tail tipped with black. 



The body of this species is slender and elongated ; the limbs rather short ; the tail vertebras 

 rather more than half the length of the body. The ears are moderately long and high, coated 

 with hair on both sides ; more or less naked within the meatus. The posterior edge of the ear 

 is split into two laminre, as usual in the weasels. The eye is rather large, its centre situated 

 about halfway between the nose and the anterior edge of the meatus. There are seven folds of 

 the gum, of which the anterior two are convex anteriorly ; the next three bow-shaped, or in a 

 double curve ; all five continuous across the palate, except, perhaps, the last one ; the posterior 

 two are likewise convex anteriorly, but interrupted in the centre. There is also a pair of 



1 Collected by Mr. Stimpson on the island of Arikamtchitchi, in Bearing Straits, who informs me that of many specimens 

 seen, all were of this diminutive size. 



