162 MTJSTELID2E. 



Genus PUTORIUS, Cuv. 1817. 

 Syn. Mustela, auct. nee Cuvier. 



Body very long, slender, and typically vermiform, limbs very 

 short, tail variable. The external characters are similar to those 

 of Mustela, except that the body, in the typical weasels especially, 

 is even more elongate. 



Dentition : i. |, c. ^ pm. |j> m - 3- The P rinci P al difference 

 from the martens consists in the absence of the anterior premolar 

 in both jaws, in the cusps of the teeth being sharper, and in the 

 absence of the inner tubercle from the lower sectorial. The skull 

 is elongate behind the orbits, but the muzzle is short. Vertebrae 

 C. 7, D. 14-15, L. 5-6, S. 3, C. 15-21. ? 



Fig. 40. Skull of Putorius canigula. 



The forms comprised are the animals known as weasels, pole- 

 cats, ferrets, and minks, of which many species occur in the 

 northern parts of both hemispheres, and several inhabit the 

 Himalayas, one at least extending to the hills south of the Assam 

 valley, and another, not hitherto recorded within Indian limits, 

 inhabiting the Malay Peninsula. None are found in the Peninsula 

 of India. 



All the species are thoroughly carnivorous and excessively san- 

 guinary and bold, killing, if an opportunity offers, far more than 

 they can consume, and destroying animals much larger than them- 

 selves. 



Synopsis of Indian Species. 



A. Limbs and lower surface darker than 



upper parts. (Polecats.) 



a. Back fulvous, longer hairs black-tipped P. larvatus, p. 163. 

 6. Back variegated with white and dark 



brown P. sarmaticus, p. 164. 



B. Lower surface not darker. (Weasels.) 

 a. Tail-tip dusky or black. 



a'. Lower parts white ; whole body 



white in winter P. erminea, p. 165. 



b'. Lower parts brown P. subhemachalanus, p. 1(56. 



