154 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



claws ; tail long, sometimes bushy, (as in mephitis.) Animals in 

 this family have generally glands at the roots of their tails, which have 

 a secretion, in some cases of the most intensely disagreeable odor, as 

 the skunks, who use this secretion as a defensive weapon. 



Genus : Putorius. — (Cuvier.) 

 Characteristics. — Head oval, and tapering to the muzzle, which is 

 blunted; incisors, six in each jaw ; canines, two in each jaw ; pre-molars, 

 six in each jaw ; true molars, tuberculated, two in the upper and four 

 in the lower jaw. Limbs short, feet small, toes connected at their bases 

 by a membrane ; tail long and cylindrical, covered with hair. 



Putorius jntsillus, (Aud. and Bach.)— Least AYeasel. [PI. I., figs. 2 and 4.] 

 This animal is the smallest of our weasels, and indeed of the North 

 American carnivora. Although not uncommon in this State, it is seldom 

 taken, its small size and great activity rendering its capture extremely 

 difficult. Its exceedingly slender, flexible body is particularly adapted 

 to following through crevices, sometimes very small, the mice and rats, 

 which constitute the greater part of its food. Having a very voracious 

 appetite, the great number of these animals that it destroys would justly 

 entitle it to the protection of the farmer, if its operations were confined 

 to these pests, but, unfortunately, this is not the case, it having a weak- 

 ness for birds, eggs, and chickens. 



Two fine specimens belonging to the State Cabinet, furnish the 

 following 



Description. — Head long, flattened above, tapering to the nose ; ears 

 short, slightly pointed; neck long; body very slender; limbs short, 

 feet hairy ; the soles and ends of the toes beneath, naked ; tail rather 

 short and slender ; fur of the upper two-thirds of the head, neck and 

 body, outsides of the legs to the toes, and tail, light brown ; the upper 

 lip, and beneath the chin, throat and body, and between the anterior 

 legs to the wrist, and the posterior legs to the ankle, white. Length 

 of head, 1 .V inches ; greatest width of the head, ^ of an inch ; length 

 from nose to root of tail, seven inches ; length of tail, not including the 

 hairs at the tip, 1}^ inches; including the hairs, 2^ inches; length of 

 the hind loot, 1 i inch. 



P. cicognanii, (Baird.)— Small Brown Weasel. [PI. I., fig. C] 



This species is quite common in this State. The same remarks may 



apply to this as to the preceding, regarding the habits, &c. ; but unlike 



the P. pusillus, the fur of this species changes in winter to a clear white, 



with the exception of the tip of the tail. This change, I am almost 



