MUSTELA STRIGIDORSA. 85 



and daringness. So soon as it is loosed it rushes up the fowl's tail or the 

 goat's leg, and seizes the great artery of the neck, nor ever quits its hold 

 till the victim sinks under exhaustion from loss of blood." 



99. Mustela strigidorsa. 



HODGSON, apud HORSFIELD, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1855. P. Z. S. 

 1856, pi. XLIX. 



THE STRIPED WEASEL. 



Descr. Intense brown, with lips, head, and neck inferiorly, as well 

 as a dorsal and ventral stripe, yellowish-white or pale aureous. 



Length, snout to vent, 12 inches ; tail 5 J, with the hair 1 inch more. 

 Larger than M. kathiah. Horsfield states that in one specimen sent to 

 the East India Museum, the brown has a shade of chestnut, and the 

 under parts of the head, neck, and breast are nearly white, with a slight 

 isabelline discoloration. 



This weasel was procured by Hodgson in Sikim. If the dorsal stripe 

 were not uniformly present, it might be taken merely for a variety of 

 M. kathiah. 



Gray has described M. fforsfieldii from Bootan, uniform dark blackish- 

 brown, very little paler beneath j'and middle of the front of the chin, and 

 the lower lips white ; tail slender, blackish at the tip ; half as long as the 

 head and body. This is very probably a dark race of Nustda sub-hemacha- 

 lana, such as was obtained by Hodgson in Nepal, and of which there is 

 a drawing in the British Museum. 



Hodgson has described two other weasels from Tibet, Mustela temon, 

 brownish-fawn above, pure yellow beneath j head and limbs canescent. 

 Length, head and body, 9 J inches ; tail 6J ; fur short, soft. 



M. canigula, cinnamon-red, head and neck below hoary ; whiskers 

 small and rigid. Length, head and body, 15| inches ; tail 9J. 



A weasel is described from' the Malayan peninsula and Java, M. nudipes, 

 F. Cuvier ; M. sarmatica, Pallas, of Northern and Central Asia, has been 

 procured in Afghanistan ; and M. sibirica, Pallas (M. Hodgsoni, Gray), 

 has been sent from China. 



M. putorius, L., the Polecat of Europe, of which the Ferret is con- 

 sidered to be a domestic variety, has been made the type of the genus 

 Putorius, F. Cuvier ; and a race nearly allied has been described by 

 Hodgson, as Putorius tibetanus, olim Mustela larvata, from Tibet. 



