6. Vulpes velox And. ami B-i-h. (S,vift Fox) 



Vulpea cinerJSO-argvUGtKS Richir.-lson, Faun. Bur. Am.. I, 98, 1820; 

 nee Cants cmerctmrgcnteu* Erxleben, Syst. Re<jn. Animalis, 1777. 



An animal described to me as the " Sv.it't," which occurs here more 

 or le?s frequently, is undoubtedly this species, tLou-'i I have not 

 known it before reported as occurring east of the Missouri. The 

 character of the country in western Iowa differs little from that of 

 eastern Nebraska, where this species is well known to occur. It is 

 hence not very unexpected that it should exist in portions of Iowa. 

 Dr. Richardson says it ranges north to the Saskatchewan river, 

 which he gives as its northern limit. 



7. Vulpes virginianus Rich. (Gray Fox.) 



Canis cinereo-argenteus et virginianus Erxleben, Syst. Reg. Anim., 

 567, 1777. 



Frequent, but not especially numerous. 



MUSTELID^. 



8. Putorius ermineus Linn. 1 (Weasel.) 



Weasels, probably mostly of this species, were reported to me as 

 common; I saw, however, but one. 



9. Putorius vulgaris Linn. (Little Weasel.) 



From its known general range, this species must also occur more or 

 less frequently, especially in the northern parts of the State. 



10. Putorius lutreolus Cuvier. (Mink.) 



P. vison Gapper, and P. nigrescens Aud. and Bach.' 2 



Said to be common. The minks of the prairies are quite different 



in some respects from the more northern animal, as well as from those 



of the wooded region to the eastward. They are browner and their 



fur is much coarser and brings a much lower price in the market. 



no opportunity of examining specimens of them myself. Similar foxes, I am in- 

 formed, occur in Massachusetts, where they are known to fox-hunters by the same 

 singular name. This peculiar condition of the pelage is doubtless unnatural, and 

 probably the result of disease, as I have in several instances seen an apparently 

 similar modification of the pelage in the red squirrel (Sciurus hudsonius), which in 

 one case extended through a whole litter. 



1 In the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (No. AIII, pp. 168-174, 

 1869), the writer has given his reasons for believing there are but two species of 

 weasel in the United States east of the Missouri, and that these are identical re- 

 spectively with the P. ermineus and P. vulgaris of the Old World. 



2 In respect to the supposed distinctness of the American from the Old World 

 minks, see my remarks in Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Xo. vm, p. 175. 



