MUSTELA. MAMMALIA. 91 



M. zibellina, Lin. The Sable. Fur brown., whitish on the head, 

 and gray on the throat ; feet covered with fur to the ends of the 

 toes. About 18 inches in length. Northern Asia. Schreb. t. 136. 



M. vison, Lin. Fur brown, with the point of the inferior jaw 

 white, and the tail brown black ; feet semipalmated. About 15 

 inches long. Inhabits Canada Schreb. t. ]27. 



M. Canadensis, Lin. Pekan Weasel, Penn. Head, neck, shoul- 

 ders, and upper part of the back mixed gray and brown ; nose, 

 croup, tail, and members of a blackish brown ; often a white spot 

 on the throat. About 18 inches long. Canada. Schreb. t. 134. 



M. rufa, Desm. Geoff. Fur of a red chestnut, deeper above than 

 below, and composed of hairs annuJated with brown, chestnut, and 

 yellow; tail brown at the tip. Probably a variety of the preceding. 



M. Pennantii, Erxleb. The Fisher Weasel, Penn. Fur yellow- 

 ish, topped with black ; throat, belly, and legs brown ; ears short, 

 lighter at the tips; tail black, shining. About 2J feet long. 

 North America Penn. Quad. No. 202. 



M. leucotis, Griffiths. Fur dark brown ; inside of ears white 



Griff. An. King. ii. 297- 



M. sinuensis, Humb. The Zorra. Fur of a uniform blackish-gray ; 

 belly and interior of the ears white. About two feet two inches 

 in length. Inhabits the warmer parts of New Grenada. 



Gen. 71. MEPHITIS, Cuv. Viverra, Lin. 



Incisors f , canines ^-J, molars |-| = 34. Body elongated, 

 arched; toes of the foot separated and armed with strong nails, 

 the anterior formed for digging ; tail long and bushy, or none. 



The mephitic weasels are rather clumsy and not nearly so active as their congeners, 

 and as their means of flight are limited, nature has provided them with a singular 

 mode of defence in the ejection of a fetid liquor from their body. Young sporting 

 dogs, unacquainted with the animal, sometimes pounce on them ; but the dash of fetid 

 liquid instantly forces them to retire. They whine, rub their noses in the earth, 

 and will never again pursue another of the same species. The smell of this offen- 

 sive liquor is so penetrating, that washing and baking clothes upon which it has been 

 injected is found insufficient, and the intolerable smell is diffused to a considerable 

 distance. Azara declares he was not able to endure the disgusting smell which a 

 dog that had received it from one of the species a week before communicated to 

 some furniture, although the dog had been washed and scrubbed with sand above 

 twenty times. 



M. Americanus, Desm. The Chinche. Fur soft, shining, marked 

 with white longitudinal bands upon a blackish-brown ground ; 

 tail covered with very long tufted hair. About the size of the 

 domestic cat Shaw, i. pi. 94. 



Var. A. With many white bands. The Ysquiepalt of Hernandez. 



Var. B With nine white lines, and digitigrade. The Putois of Catesby. 



Var. C With six white bands, and said to be plantigrade. Moufette Conepatl, Buff. 



Var. D With two white bands along the tail. Conepatl, Hernandez. 



Var. E Glauton Mapurito, Humboldt. Fur of a deep-black ; back with only 



one white band, which commences at the forehead and terminates at the half of 



the body. Its odour is insupportable. 



