WEASEL-MAETEN. 219 



24. Mus. VULGAEIS, Erxl. Sma Yesla. Tlie Weasel. D. F. 



Tail with no black tip, always the same colour as the 

 body; colour in summer red, brown in winter, pure 

 white in the middle of the country, but in the south 

 brown, at all times with a white belly; length 6 in. 41.; 

 tail 1 in. 4 1., but I have seen this animal nearly 2 in. 

 longer. 



It has been doubted whether the weasel, like the stoat, 

 becomes white in the winter. I can prove that this is 

 the case from pure white specimens killed in Wermland 

 in the winter. I can also prove by specimens kept in con- 

 finement that the change of colour from the red summer 

 dress to the white of winter takes place by an actual change 

 or shedding of the old coat, and not by the old hair changing 

 colour. Not so common in Scandinavia as the last, but is 

 said to go quite as far north. 



(c) . Upper tuberculated teeth, broader inwardly ; praa- 

 molars, -f-. 



Gen. Maries, Gesn. 



Ears larger than in the last; tail bushy, longer than 

 half the body -, tongue rough ; do not change colour in 

 winter. 



25. MAETES FOINA, Briss. Sten Mard. The Stone, or Com- 



mon Marten. D. F. 



Body greyish brown, with black-brown bushy tail, 

 and black legs ; white throat and breast ; soles of feet 

 naked ; throat spot at the bottom divided into two by a 

 streak of the dark body colour, so that it appears doubly 

 pointed ; usual length 17 in. ; tail to the point of the hair 

 12 in. 



Is certainly not so common in Scandinavia as the next. 

 We seldom kill one in the middle of Sweden, and it 

 is said to go far up, but I believe the northern limits of 

 neither, are as yet properly defined. I have never seen more 

 than two specimens of this skin in the Carlstad market, 

 although dozens of the other. Both species (for I cannot 

 myself consider these two as identical) pair with us in 



