182 NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE WEASEL FAMILY* 



This family, including the Weasels, Martens, Skunks, Gluttons, Otters, Badgers, &c., is the most 

 heterogeneous assemblage of all the Carnivorous group. Its members have a very wide geographical 

 distribution, being found in all parts of the world, except the West Indies, Madagascar, and the 

 Australian region. They differ very much among themselves, but have, nevertheless, certain 

 important characters in common, such as the structure of the ear-drum bone, which in essential 

 respects resembles that of the Bears, as also do the organs of digestion. They all possess, beneath the 



SKELETON OF WEASEL. 



root of the tail, anal glands, organs of similar nature to the civet- producing glands of the Yiverridae, but 

 secreting a more or less noxious fluid. The number of animals in this family is very great, and it will 

 be impossible to treat of any but the principal species. As a matter of convenience, the members of 

 the group are often split up into sections, one (the true Mustelidce) containing the Gluttons, Martens, 

 Weasels, Ferrets, and Grisons ; another (the MeUdaJ) consisting of the Badgers, Ratels, and Skunks ; 

 and a third (the Lutridce) containing the Otters. 



Many of these animals are looked upon as " vei'min," but among them are some of the most 

 valuable of the fur-producing animals : the Ermine, Sable, Mink, and Marten. These are all inhabitants 

 of the Northern hemisphere, and the business of trapping them is a veiy important branch of industry, 

 as may be gathered from the fact, quoted by Dr. Elliott Coues,t that " during the century 1769 1868, 

 the Hudson's Bay Company sold at auction in London, besides many millions other pelts (skins), the 

 following of Mustelidce: 1,240,511 Sables; 674,027 Otters; 68,694 Wolverenes; 1,507,240 Minks; 

 218,653 Skunks; 275,302 Badgers; 5,349 Sea-Otters. In 1868 alone, the Company sold (among many 

 thousand others), 106,254 Sables; 73,473 Minks; 14,966 Otters; 6,298 Skunks; 1,104 Wolverenes; 

 1,551 Badgers ; 123 Sea-Otters ; besides which were also sold in London, in the autumn of the same 

 year, about 4,500 Sables ; 22,000 Otters, &c." 



THE GLUTTON.* 



The Glutton, or Wolverene, the largest of the Weasel group, is found over the greater part of the 

 northern regions, both of the Old and New Worlds, being especially abundant in Siberia and 

 Kamtchatka. It attains a length of some three feet four inches, ten inches of which go to the 

 tail. It has a Dog-like snout, a broad or rounded head, short ears, an arched back, a short bushy 

 tail, and long, dark brown or almost black fur. A band of pale reddish-brown runs along the sides, 

 and unites with the corresponding band of the opposite side on the rump. 



The skull is very strong and massive, and the jaws bear altogether thirty-eight teeth. The number 

 of the incisors, canines, and premolars corresponds with that we have found in the Arctoids ; but the 

 molars are reduced to one on each side in the upper, and two on each side in the lower jaw, 



* Mustelida. f "Fur-bearing Animals : a Monograph of North American Mustelidse." + Gulo luscus. 



The dental formula is Incisors, |?; canines, ^~; premolars, 4 ^~ 4 ; molars, 1 ~ l 38. 



