1 76 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XIX, 



The Repulse Bay specimens, however, are without measure- 

 ments taken from the fresh specimen, and are thus in respect 

 to size and proportions not satisfactorily comparable with 

 the Siberian specimens. The Repulse Bay specimens in sum- 

 mer coat are extremely variable in coloration, ranging from 

 light yellowish brown to dark brown. There are, however, 

 very marked differences in the skulls of the two forms, in P. 

 ermineus the skull being long and narrow, with a low, elon- 

 gate, narrow braincase, in comparison with the much broader 

 skull of P. richardsonii, and relatively much deeper and much 

 broader braincase. The skull in P. richardsonii averages 

 considerably smaller than that of P. ermineus and has shorter, 

 less flattened, and more widely separated bullae. 



It is interesting to note that in the Buxton series of 21 

 specimens only one is a female, and that there is also only one 

 female in 'a series of 38 specimens from Repulse Bay. It 

 would thus seem that the females are better able than the 

 males to escape the wiles of the trapper. 



"Ermine. Russian name, Gdr-no-stai-e. Quite common at 

 all the places that I visited in Northeast Siberia, although by 

 no means abundant. They are most common in winter about 

 the Russian and native settlements, where they are attracted 

 by the fish and meat stored at such places. In a small out- 

 building near my cabin I had a number of gulls and deer car- 

 casses stored, and during the winter I caught ten ermines in 

 one trap that was set there, while from a line of baited traps 

 maintained on the tundra and under other buildings in the 

 settlement all the time (thirteen months) that I was at 

 Kooshka I took only one. The distinct sulphur color of 

 many of the winter skins was more or less present in the fresh 

 specimens, but has increased in intensity since being pre- 

 pared. The pelts are valued at from 20 to 30 kopecks each." 

 N. G. B. 



32. Putorius (Arctogale) pygmaeus, sp. nov. 

 PIGMY WEASEL. 



Type, No. 18322, 5 ad., skin and skull, Gichiga, west coast of 

 Okhotsk Sea, Siberia, Oct. 2, 1900; N. G. Buxton, Jesup North Pacific 

 Expedition. 



