212, 



MARTEN. 



exclusively, on warm-blooded animals ; and their cheek 

 teeth are of a more bruising and tearing character 

 than those of the otters. 



Martens of every genus have six incisive teeth, 

 two canine, and two carnivorous, and two tuberculous 

 teeth in each jaw ; but the number of their false 

 molars is subject to some variations, which are at- 

 tended with differences in the general character and 

 habits of the animals, and for this reason they are 

 worthy of attention. Many species have six above 

 and eight below, and others have only six both ways, 

 so that the total number of teeth varies from thirty- 

 eight to thirty-four. These variations in the number 

 are not, however, of very primary importance, because 

 it is the form of the teeth which is our best guide to 

 the food and feeding of any of them, and the number 

 is rather a secondary matter. The additional four 

 teeth which occur in many of these animals are never 

 so fully developed as the rest, and they are some- 

 times little more than rudimental. Their establish- 

 ment in the jaw is less firm, as they have only one 

 fang or root, while all the others have two or more : 

 they are also less efficient in their crowns, which 

 consist of a single smooth and blunt point. The 

 other false molars, which are more firmly established 

 in the jaw, are narrow from the outside to the inside, 

 broad from the front to the rear, and very sharp in 

 the points. The carnivorous teeth which come be- 

 hind these very much resemble those of the cats, 

 which are the most carnivorous of all animals ; and 

 thus the martens have a very strong carnivorous cha- 

 racter in this particular tooth. The upper one has 

 an internal tubercle which is very distinct ; and the 

 lower one has a heel or projection on the back part, 

 which decreases its cutting and tearing character. 

 The tuberculous teeth in the lower jaw are small, 

 rounded, and have their crowns formed into three 

 points. The upper ones are much larger, especially 

 from the front to the rear ; and they have a furrow 

 in the length of their crowns, irregular in its depth, 

 and well calculated for acting against the irregularities 

 of the lower teeth in bruising flesh in its recent and 

 tough state. The whole mouth indeed is of a highly 

 carnivorous character. 



The legs of the whole are short, and the foot always 

 consists of five toes, which are united by membrane 

 for a great part of the length. The inner toe is the 

 shortest of the whole in all the family, and the middle 

 and fourth ones are usually the longest. The remain- 

 ing two, though shorter than these, are both of equal 

 length. The balls of the toes are furnished with 

 naked tubercles of an oval form, and there is another 

 in the middle of that part of the foot which comes to 

 the ground in walking, and this middle one has three 

 lobes directed toward the toes. The foot is thus 

 both a firm one and one not liable to be injured, 

 though planted with force upon hard and rough sur- 

 faces ; and thus the animals can bound and leap after 

 their prey with great agility, in which they are further 

 assisted by the length and elasticity of the spine. 

 The claws of all, with the exception of the zorilla, or 

 polecat of the Cape, afterwards to be noticed, are 

 crooked as well as very sharp in the points, though 

 they are in no species decidedly retractile like those 

 of the cats. Most of the species can, however, climb 

 walls and trees, and get over lofty obstacles and 

 through small openings, with very great facility. 



The body is, in all the species, long and slender, 

 and, though elastic and capable of being made very 



stiff by muscular exertion, it can 'also move", more 

 lithely than that of most other mammalia.' The 

 covering is soft and fine in all the species ; and it 

 consists of two kinds of fur, the one longer, silky, 

 and glistening, the other short and woolly, and re- 

 markably close. In most of the species the skin is 

 very firm, and both kinds of fur stick firmly to it ; 

 and if we except that of some animals which live 

 habitually in the water, the skin and fur of the marten 

 tribe are less liable to be injured by the weather than 

 those of any other small animals. 



On this account the skins of many of them are 

 sought after with great avidity as furs, on account of 

 their warmth, their beauty, and their durability jointly ; 

 and though the skins of various other animals are 

 used as furs, those of the marten tribe are most valued, 

 and they themselves considered the fur animals by way 

 of eminence. In one or other of the species they 

 occur in almost every part of the world, with the ex- 

 ception of Australia and some of the remote islands ; 

 but the regions of the north, close by the shores of 

 the polar ocean, are especially their head quarters ; 

 and it is there that the finest furs are obtained, and 

 they are obtained in immense numbers both in the 

 Eastern continent and in America. 



None of the martens pass the winter, or any part 

 of it, in a state of lethargy, even in the coldest places 

 which they inhabit. They are animals of too much 

 energy for this ; for, though many of the hybernating 

 mammalia can make considerable exertions during 

 the season of warmth and activity, there is always a 

 trace of something sluggish about them. The mar- 

 tens, on the other hand, are so full of energy and 

 life, and so strong in proportion to their weight, that 

 it is exceedingly difficult to fatigue them ; and, what 

 is not universal among animals, they are as tenacious 

 of life as they are energetic in the exercise of it. 



Protected as they are by their double covering of 

 fur, they are nearly indifferent both to changes of 

 temperature and changes of the weather. They do 

 not pant in the summer's heat, neither do they shiver 

 in the winter's cold. Rain, or immersion in water if 

 that be necessary, does not readily wet their living 

 fur t and snow makes comparatively little impression 

 updn them. The long silky portion of their fur 

 throws off rain or snow like a nicely adapted thatch ; 

 while the woolly part among the roots is so fine in 

 the staple, that it is perhaps one of the best non- 

 conductors of heat in nature, and the very best among 

 the mammalia. 



Any one who reflects upon the great advantage 

 which his own body receives from as near a unifor- 

 mity of temperature as he can command from artificial 

 clothing, must readily convince himself of the great 

 saving of the energy of an animal which must be 

 effected by this means. There is nothing which so 

 soon wears out the system by natural decay, and 

 nothing which so frequently exposes it to disease as 

 alternate heating and cooling ; and if we compare 

 one of those fur animals clothed in its non-conductor, 

 with a tropical animal in its thinly-scattered covering 

 of coarse hair, which admits a full play of the tempe- 

 rature against the skin, we shall readily see that those 

 animals can bear, without the slightest inconvenience, 

 extremes of heat and cold, which would very speediljr 

 destroy the tropical animal, by actually wearing rt 

 out beyond all possibility of exertion. 



There is therefore not a more beautiful instance of 

 adaptation of animal and country to each other, than 



