WEASEL KIND. 107 



to this tribe, and this only. We have hitherto 

 had no precise description of this quadruped ; 

 some resembling it to a badger, some to a fox, 

 and some to a hyaena. Linnaeus places it 

 among the weasels, from the similitude of its 

 teeth : it should seem to me to resemble this ani- 

 mal still more, from the great length of its body, 

 and the shortness of its legs, from the softness of 

 its fur, its disagreeable scent, and its insatiable 

 appetite for animal food. M. Klein, who saw 

 one of them which was brought alive from Sibe- 

 ria, assures us, that it was about three feet long,* 

 and about a foot and a half high. If we compare 

 these dimensions with those of other animals, we 

 shall find that they approach more nearly to the 

 class we are at present describing than any other ; 

 and that the glutton may very justly be conceiv- 

 ed under the form of a great overgrown weasel. 

 Its nose, its ears, its teeth, and its long bushy 

 tail, are entirely similar ; and as to what is said 

 of its being rather corpulent than slender, it is 

 most probable that those who described it thus, 

 saw it after eating, at which time its belly, we are 

 assured, is most monstrously distended : however, 

 suspending all certainty upon this subject, I will 

 take leave rather to follow Linnaaus than Buffon 

 in describing this animal, and leave future expe- 

 rience to judge between them. 



The Glutton, which is so called from its vora- 

 cious appetite, is an animal found as well in the 

 north of Europe and Siberia, as in the north parts 

 ' 



* He says it was one ell eight inches long ; I have, therefore, given its 

 length, as supposing it to be a Flemish ell, which is twenty-seven inches. 



