220 



MARTEN. 



which are cangHt in warm places or mild winters 

 should retain a portion of their summer colour. The 

 change, too, is gradual, not instantaneous, and the 

 white comes on in patches, so that an ermine caught 

 early in the season is almost sure to be mottled ; 

 and, were it possible or desirable to catch an ermine 

 every three or four days, from the beginning to the 

 end of the change in the colour of its fur, there is 

 little doubt that a lover of varieties would be gratified 

 by as many varieties of ermines as there were catch- 

 ings, though thegreater number of them might be of the 

 very same litter. It is thus of the utmost importance 

 to attend to the colours which polar animals undergo 

 in the course of the very variable seasons to which 

 they are subjected, before coming to any conclusion 

 as to what is a species or a variety, and what is not. 

 As the mink inhabits lower down than the ermine, 

 and, generally speaking, not quite so far to the north, 

 it is not subject to seasonal variations of colour. It 

 does appear, however, to be subject to very con- 

 siderable variations in the while upon the chin, the 

 throat, or both : sometimes it is on the one, some- 

 times on the other, sometimes on both, and some- 

 times wanting altogether ; so that, in fact, it ought 

 to be discharged from among the descriptive charac- 

 ters of the animal. 



The warm regions of the world have their polecats 

 as well as the colder ones, though they are not nearly 

 so numerous in the former, and their skins there are 

 of little or no value as articles of commerce. On this 

 account they have been much less studied, and the 

 studying of them has been comparatively recent, so 

 that "there may probably exist in the richer parts of the 

 tropical countries many more species than we are yet 

 acquainted with. The oriental isles are the places 

 where they are most likely to abound, as these are the 

 most fertile spots on the face of the globe ; accord- 

 ingly, there have been two species noticed iu the island 

 of Java. 



Javanese Polecat (P. Javanica). This species is be- 

 tween six and seven inches long, and remarkably thin 

 in the body. Its general colour is nearly the same as 

 the summer dress of the ermine ; but the cheeks are 

 white, and there is a white spot on the front of each 

 eye. The point of the tail is furnished with a brush 

 of long hair, and the feet are abundantly covered with 

 fur, which last circumstance forms a very marked dis- 

 tinction between it and the next species. 



Naked-footed Polecat of Java (P. nudipes). This 

 species is frequently called the Java ferret. It is 

 rather less than the polecat of Europe, but larger than 

 the ferret. The general colour of its fur is a very 

 brilliant golden red, and the head and tip of the tail 

 are white. Its most distinguishing character is the 

 perfect nakedness of the soles of the feet. It has 

 -been rarely seen by Europeans, and nothing is known 

 of the manners or the habits either of it or the preced- 

 ing species, further than what may be inferred from 

 their similarity to the rest of the genus. 



African Polecat (P. Africana}. This species is 

 -about ten or eleven inches from the point of the 

 muzzle to the root of the tail, and the tail is about six 

 inches more. Its general colour is russet brown on 

 4he upper side, and yellowish white on the under, with 

 a band of russet along the middle of the under part. 

 It is understood that the known specimens come from 

 the western part of central Africa ; but the precise 

 locality is not known, neither are the habits. It bears, 

 how.ever, so dose a resemblance to the rest of the 



genus, as to leave little doubt respecting its cha- 

 racter. 



Madagascar Polecat (P. striata). This species is 

 about the same size as the European polecat ; but it 

 is very differently coloured and marked. The upper 

 part is of a rich deep brown, with five longitudinal 

 lines of white, one along the ridge of the back, and two 

 on each side. These converge toward the tail, which 

 is entirely white ; and the under part of the body is 

 also white, but with a shade of grey. 



The Cape Polecat (P. Zorilla). This species i 

 not very accurately named ; for though it is found in 

 Southern Africa, it is not confined to that part of the 

 continent. It has been met with near the Senegal 

 and the Gambia ; and there is little doubt but that it ia 

 generally distributed over all the country to the 

 south of the Great Desert wherever the soil answers 

 to its habits. There have been some mistakes about 

 this animal ; for it has been described as an American, 

 and as belonging to the mephitic animals of the 

 southern part of that region of the world. These 

 opinions are erroneous, however ; for the zorilla is an 

 African and a true polecat, and there is no true pole- 

 cat in South America, at least so far as is hitherto 

 known ; though it is probable that some may exist 

 in the rich wooded districts of the tropical parts. The 

 name, at all events, is South American, and was, we 

 believe, originally applied to one of the mephitic 

 animals of that country ; and we rather think that 

 Buffon is chargeable with the misapplication of it to 

 this animal. Zorilla means little fox, and was given 

 to the fcetid animals of South America, on account of 

 the intolerable odour which they emit. It is rather 

 a large animal, as compared with some of the race, 

 though inferior in size to the polecat of Europe. The 

 length of the head and body is rather more than a 

 foot, and that of the tail about eight inches. Its ge- 

 neral colour is black, spotted with white on the head, 

 and streaked with longitudinal white lines on the 

 back. Those spots and lines have always very nearly 

 the same position, but they differ greatly in size, so 

 much so, that at a little distance some specimens appear 

 entirely black, and others almost white. This differs 

 from the rest of the genus, in having the claws better 

 adapted for burrowing in the ground than for climb- 

 ing, which would seem to indicate a difference of 

 habit from the rest ; but what that difference is, is un- 

 known, and in every other respect this animal resem- 

 bles the rest of the genus. 



The enumeration which we have now given com- 

 prehends all the species of polecats which are well 

 established ; but it is highly probable that, in foreign 

 countries, there are many more, inasmuch as these are 

 nocturnal animals in their habits, and so conduct 

 themselves that they are not easily observed. W 

 must bear in mind too, that, of the wild forests in 

 the tropical countries, not one mile in a thousand has 

 yet been explored by Europeans. We now proceed 

 to the next genus. 



Mu STELA. The animals of this genus, though they 

 have much general resemblance to the polecats, yet 

 differ from them in so many particulars as to warrant 

 the generic separation of the two. The martens have 

 not the offensive odour of the polecats, but on the 

 contrary the smell of some of them makes a slight 

 approach towards fragrance. They are also much more 

 pleasant to look at. They are more elegant in their 

 shape ; and there is something in the expression of a 

 marten which tells at once that, though it is as brave as 



