JUNE, 1896.] SYNOPSIS OF THE WEASELS OF NORTH AMERICA. 25 



PUTORIUS XANTHOGENYS (Gray). California Weasel. 



1S43. Mustela .runlhoyaius Gray : Annals and Maga/ino Nat. Hist., XI, pp. 118, 1843. 

 1857. Pulorius xaniJioyi-nys IJaml: Mammals N. Am., pp. 176-177. 1857. 

 1877. Pulorius (Gale) brasH'iendix f remit us Cones: Fur- Hearing Animals, ]p. 142-146, 

 1877 (in part). 



Type locality. Southern California, probably vicinity of San Diego. 



Geographic (listribtitron. Sonoran and Transition faunas of Califor- 

 nia, on both sides of the Sierra Nevada. 



General characters. Si/,e medium; tail long; face conspicuously 

 marked with whitish, but rest of head not black; under parts 

 ochraceous. 



Color. Upper parts from back of head to terminal part of tail in 

 summer pelage raw-umber brown, tinged with golden; in winter pelaye, 

 drab brown, without yellowish suffusion; head always darker, becom- 

 ing dusky over nose; a large rectangular spot between eyes, and a 

 broad oblique band between eye and eir, whitish; end of tail black; 

 a' brown spot behind corners of mouth ; chin white ; rest of under parts, 

 including fore feet all round and inner side and toes of hind feel, vary- 

 ing from buffy ochraceons to ochraceous orange. In some specimens 

 the ocliraceous covers the greater part of the hind feet as well as the 

 toes. 



Cranial characters. Skull of the lonyicauda type and practically 

 indistinguishable in size and characters from P. arlzonensls; skull as a 

 whole short and broad; zygomata bowed outward; postorbital processes 

 strongly developed; sagittal ridge distinct; audital bulLe moderate, 

 usually truncate anteriorly; skull of female similar to that of male, 

 but smaller. 



Remarks. Putorius .vanthogenys inhabits the San Joaquin and Owens 

 valleys and the whole of southern California except the higher moun- 

 tains. In ascending the mountains it gradually loses the facial mark- 

 ings and seems to grade into P. arizonensis, the weasel of the mountain 

 summits. 



Measurements. Average of 7 males from southern California: Total 

 length, 402; tail vertebrae, 15G ; hind foot, 43.5. Average of 3 females : 

 Total length, 368; tail vertebrae, 135; hind foot, 40.5. 



PUTORIUS XANTHOGENYS OREGONENSIS subsp. nov. Oregon Weasel. 



Type from Grants Pass, Rogue River Valley, Oregon. No. f|gi, 2 ad., U. S. Nat. Mus., 



Dept. Agric. Coll. Collected December 19, 1891, by Clark P. Streator. Original 



number 1404. 



Geographic distribution. Kogue lliver Valley, Oregon; limits of 

 range unknown. 



General characters. Similar to P. xanthogenys but decidedly larger, 

 darker in color, and with face markings much restricted. 



Color. Upper parts in winter pelage pale chocolate brown, slightly 

 darker on head; a small and ill-defined patch between eyes, and a nar- 



